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CIST Congress,) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ( Mis. Doc. 

W .9^mV,«. ( . I No. 135. 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



ON THE 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



OF 



JAMES PHELAN, 

A REPRESENTATIVE FROM TENNESSEE, 



DELIVERED IN THE 



^ House of Representatives and in the Senate, 



FIFTY-FIRST CONORESS, SECOND SESSION. 



PUBLISHED HY ORDER OK CONGRESS. 



WASHINGTON : 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

I 89 I. 






CONCURRENT RESOLUTION TO PRINT THE EULOGIES UPON JAMES PHELAN. 

Resolved by the House of Representatives {the Senate conctirring), 
That tliere be j^rinted of tlie eulogies delivered in Congress upon the late 
James Phelan, a Representative in tlie Fifty-first Congress from the State 
of Tennessee. 13,000 copies, of which 8,000 coiiies shall be for the use of the 
Senate, and 9,000 copies shall be for the use of the House of Representa- 
tives; and the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, dii-ected to 
have printed a portrait of the said James Phelan, to accompany said 
eulogies. That of the quota to the House of Representatives the Pul)lic 
Printer shall set apart 50 copies, which he shall have bound in full mo- 
rocco with gilt edges, the same to be delivered when complete to the 
family of the deceased. 

Agi-eed to in tlie House of Representatives February 28, 1891. 

Agreed to in the Senate March 3, 1891. 
2 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 



ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH. 



February 7, 18'Jl. 

Mr. McMiLLiN. Mr. Speaker, tlie sad duty devolves upon 
uie of announcing to this House the death, in Nassau, 
whither he had gone in quest of liealth, of Hon. James 
Phelan, a member of Congress from the Tenth district of 
Tennessee— a ripe scholar, a pure patriot, a noble states- 
man. I will at an appropriate time ask the House to take 
further steps in commemoration of his merit. At present I 
offer the. following resolutions. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That tlie House lias heard with profound sorrow and deep 
regret of the death of Hon. James Phelan, late a Representative from 
the State of Tennessee. 

Resolved, That a committee of seven members of the House, with such 
members of tlie Senate as may be joined, be appointed to attend the 
funeral. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate 
and transmit a copy to the family of the deceased. 

The resolutions were agreed to. 

The Speaker pro tempore subsequently announced as 
members of the committee Mr. Washington, Mr. McRae, 
Mr. Wickham, Mr. Enloe, Mr. Stockbridge, Mr. Montgom- 
ery, and Mr. Coleman. 



4 Proceedings in the House of Representatives. 

Mr. McMiLLiN. I ask the consideration of tlie following 
resolution. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That the Sergeant-at-Arms be directed to take proper action 
for superintending the funeral ceremonies of the late Mr. Phelan, the 
expense so incurred by him to be paid out of the contingent fund of the 
House. 

The resolution was agreed to^ 

Mr. McMiLLiN. I also offer the following resolution. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the 
deceased the House do now adjourn. 

The resolution was agreed to. 

Accordingly (at 4 o'clock and 45 minutes p. m.) the House 
adjourned until Monday, February 9, 18*J1, at 11 o'clock 
a. m. 



EULOGIES. 



February 18, 1891. 

Mr. McMiLLiN. If the gentleman will indulge me for a 
moment, I wish to submit a matter of which I think he will 
see the eminent fitness. I ask for the present consideration 
of the resolution which I send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from Ten- 
nessee asks unanimous consent for the present consideration 
of the resolution which the Clerk will read. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That Friday, February 37, 1891, beginning at 3 o'clock p. m., 
be set apart for paying tribute to the memory of Hon. James Phelan, 
late a member of the House of Representatives from tl\e Tenth district 
of the State of Tennessee. 

Mr. McKiNLEY. What hour does the resolution fix? 

Mr. McMiLLiN. Three o'clock. 

Mr. McKiNLEY. Would not the gentleman think it would 
be as well to make it 4 o'clock. 

Mr. McMiLLiN. I have already fixed it one hour later 
than the usual hour. 

Mr. DiNGLEY. I think it ought to be 4 o'clock. 

Mr. McMiLLiN. I hope there will be no insistence on 
making it 4 o'clock. I fixed it at ;3 o'clock with the view of 
giving almost a full day's work before the hour set for this 
purpose. 



6 Eulogies on the 

Mr. Farquhar. The hour fixed in the case of Mr. Wil- 
ber was 4 o'clock, and there was no objection to that. 

Mr. McMiLLiN. Yes; and others have been fixed at 1 and 
2 o'clock. 

Mr. McKiNLEY. I think if the gentleman will reflect he 
will see the propriety of making it 4 o'clock, considering 
that it occurs so late in the session. 

Mr. McMiLLiN. I have no desire to run counter to what 
may be the propriety of the occasion. I know the House 
would be willing to give any time that would be proper. I 
will therefore accept the amendment fixing the hour at 4 
o'clock. 

The resolution as amended was adopted. 



February 28, 1891. 
Mr. McMiLLiN. Mr. Speaker, I ask for the reading of 
the resolutions which I send to the desk. 
The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended that oppor- 
tunity may be given for tributes to the memory of Hon. James Phelan, 
late a Eepresentative from tlie State of Tennessee. 

Resolved, Tliat as a particular mark of respect to the memory of the 
deceased, and in recognition of his eminent abilities as a faithful public 
servant, the House, at the conclusion of these memorial proceedings, 
shall stand adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk also ti-ansmit to the family of the deceased a 
copy of these resolutions. 



Life and Character of James Phclan. 



ADDRESS OF Mr. Richardson, of Tennessee, 

Mr, Speaker: I ask the indulgence of the House for a lit- 
tle while that I may pay a tribute to the memory of my late 
colleague, James Phelan. He was born in, Aberdeen, Mis- 
sissippi, December 7, 185G, and died of pulmonary consump- 
tion in Nassau, New Providence, on January 30, 1891. He 
was first elected to the Fiftieth Congress, and was reelected 
to the Fifty-first; hence, when he died he had nearly com- 
pleted his second term as a member of this body. Although 
one of the youngest members of the House, he attained, in 
the short period he served as a Representative, a position 
in the front rank. He was a cultured student, a hard 
worker, and a true gentleman. He had won for himself 
before entering Congress a bright reputation as an author 
and journalist. His learning was varied, and his education 
thoroughly classical. In 1871 he attended the Kentucky Mil- 
itary Institute, near Frankfort, Kentucky. He completed 
his studies at the best German universities, and returned to 
the United States with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 
in 1878. He then studied law, and began the practice at 
Memphis in 1881. 

He never held office until elected to the Fiftieth Congress 
from the Memphis, Tennessee, district. As I have stated he 
was reelected to the present Congress, but on account of ill 
health he was able to occupy his seat only a few days. But 
for his indomitable will, and unflagging energy, and me- 
thodical habit, it would not have been possible for him to 
accomplish the work he performed. I remember well dur- 
ing his first session here to have seen him often at his seat 



8 Address of Mr. Richardson^ of Tennessee^ on the 

on this floor earnestly engaged on the manuscript and in 
revising the proof of his history of Tennessee. This is a 
work of rare value, to which he devoted many of his best 
hours. The labor on this book he was performing wliile 
constantly occupied with his Congressional duties. It was 
said of him he had but little taste for politics, and that pos- 
sibly he would not have made a very successful law-maker, 
but one thing is sure, his name will live in the hearts of 
Tennesseans so long as Tennesseans are taught to love and 
honor the men who made the history which he wrote. 
Though his years were not many in number, his achieve- 
ments were extraordinary, and he has left a heritage of in- 
calculable value to his children and family. ' • 

A warm personal friend of his, one who ha 1 been associ- 
ated with him in business and who perhaps knew him in 
life better than any of us, said of him in a recent eloquent 
tribute to his memory : 

The years of Phelan's life were' few, but he wrought wondrously. 
His name is written where it will endure. He has left as a heritage to 
his children a record of extraordinary achievement. Because he was our 
neighbor we should not be insensible of the real greatness of the man. 
With the single exception of Alexander Hamilton, no man has ever 
appeared in the political life of America who, at thirty, had accomplished 
so much or gave such promise of a surpassing career. In youth a most 
assiduous student, he completed his education at the German universities. 
Other men have taken the same course, only to become impracticables in 
the every-day affairs of the world. Not so with Phelan. He came home 
full-armed, ready, alert, ambitious, and determined to make name and 
fame iv>x himself as an American citizen. He projected his line of life 
carefully. He seemed to anticipate his own future. He proceeded 
patiently, but rapidly. Every obstacle in the definite course he had 
marked out was overcome. At thirty, what had he done ? He was a 
member of Congress. He had proved himself a tliorough journalist, 
owning and directing one of the leading newspapers of (lie South. He 
had written a history of Tennessee, which is scholarly in its text, s(j 
acceptable in its treatment, and so exceptic^ial in its worth as to establish 
him in high rank among those whose names adorn American literature. 
Where is his like for industry, for versatility, and for that qimlity of 
genius which comprehends any task and fulfills any obligations? 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 9 

The same writer again said of him : 

His will was invincible, but his motives were pure. His purposes were 
definite, but they were exemplary and lofty. His self-respect was in- 
tense : therefore he strove to do justice to others. He was ready to forgive 
a wrong when it proceeded from an honest difference of view. He sought 
no mean advantage, being jealous of his own honor. Sincere liimself, he 
demanded sincerity of others. He never disappointed a friend ; he never 
ignored an obligation ; he never forfeited a confidence. Being true to 
himself, it followed, " as the night the day, he could not then be false to 
any man." But who knew Phelan best? Surely not those who knew 
him only in the various phases of his public life. To those who were tlie 
companions of his boyhood, who had struggled with him to meet the ex- 
actions of the college class-room, who had joined him on the ball-field, 
who had camped with him in the forest— who, in short, knew the boy 
that was in the man— to them comes the profoundest grief that he is no 
more. Their affection found deeper root than in admiration for his suc- 
cesses. They knew him to be a simple-hearted, generous, helpful, un- 
affected man, who rejoiced in the happiness of others, who was sensible 
of the value of human love, who was a child when there was time to play, 
whoh'e heart was easily touched, and whose friendship held fast in all 
weathers. To tliem was given a glimpse of the man's inner nature. They 
saw the melancholy aspect of the tremendous battle he made for quick 
personal distinction. He was at Leipsic at school when he became first 
convinced that his expectation of life was short. He was hopeful, but he 
lost no time. He could not afford to idle on the way. He saw the shadow 
that rested on the future. He could not put it out of account. The terri- 
ble realization was his, and his alone. It was from this that his nervous 
force proceeded. His energy was almost unnatural. People said he was 
burning the candle at both ends. He knew it, but he also knew the rea- 
son why. A day lost was not to be made up. From him was shut the 
fond belief that after the struggle would come the restful vales of age. 
It was always with him a race with the grim specter. Yet he was joyous, 
undeterred, buoyant, and ever planning. When the real conflict with 
disease came, he fought for life as men have rarely fought. He perceived 
the futility of the struggle, yet he was defiant. He took every chancy. 
For months he lived by the sheer force of his will. At last the end is 
reached. The heroic soul is released. His dreams are over. His ambi- 
tious spirit is at rest. "The expectancy and rose of the fair state" is 
become a memory. The eulogies we pay can not be deemed extravagant, 
though he who has been taken away was but yesterday, it seems, 

lu the morn auci liquid dew of youth. 
His work was not complete. But, though the shaft he reared lacks the 
capital, that which remains to tell us of his genius is so wondrous in its 
beauty and promise that we may not question what the grace of its ulti- 
mate perfection would have been. It is eloquent of all that is best and 
bravest in man. 



10 Address of Mr. O' Neill, ofPeimsylvania, on the 

I do not apologize for using so much of this tribute to the 
deceased, for I know it is sincere and all will realize its 
eloquence and beauty. Others will follow me who will pay 
their tribute, but none will be more just, fitting, and truth- 
ful than that from which I have quoted so largely. It was 
written by Mr. H. M. Doak, of Tennessee. 

Death at all times is sad. It is a melancholy thought that 
a man is to die, perish, and be gone forever from the face of 
the earth. It is doubly sad to contemplate death when the 
subject is young, bright, able, learned, accomplished, and 
thoroughly equipped for the battle of life. Such a man was 
my late friend and colleague, James Phelan. "Peace to 
his ashes." 



Address of Mr. O'Neill, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: James Phelan, born December 7, 1856, 
died in Nassau on the 30th of January, 1891, having lived 
but a little over thirty-four years. When he was but ten 
years of age, his father, a distinguished citizen of Missis- 
sippi, removed with his family to Memphis, Tenn. This 
son, in the prime of his young manhood, not having reached 
his thirtieth year, was honored by a triumphant election to 
the United States House of Representatives, and two years 
later was reelected by a largely increased majority. The 
reelection showed that confidence of his constituents in him 
which is so much desired by Representatives, it being con- 
sidered always an indorsement of official conduct. 

These details I give to illustrate the sentiment of the 
country, that youth, with its energy and ambition, is fitted 
for the commencement of legislative work; usefulness to 
constituents and distinction to the Representative surely 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 1 1 

coming, as years of service make manifest his industrious 
and intelligent devotion to duty, 

Mr. Phelan, owing to failing health, did not seek a third 
renomination and election. By examining the rolls of Con- 
gress, it will be found that, as a general rule, a larger pro- 
portion of those who come to the House of Representatives 
at or about the age of thirty years, than of those who come 
at a later age, gain reputation and are promoted to higher 
national positions. 

In my Congressional experience I could name many who 
at that early period of life laid the foundation of leader- 
ship, controlled legislation because of their ability, and in 
the future were recognized as the statesmen of the country. 
Senators and Presidents can date their elevation to these 
high places from the impression made by them during their 
days of comparatively early service in the House. Mr, 
Phelan, with his unusually thorough education, his natural 
mental power, his intellectual training, and unremitting de- 
votion to his duties, would have become distinguished here 
and have been known by his countrymen as successful in 
his Congressional career. 

Higher honors from his State would have been within Jiis 
reach; but unfortunately for him and for us, his healtli broke 
down, and death claimed him much too early for those of us 
who knew him and appreciated and admired his great attain- 
ments. He was my fellow-member in the Committee on 
Commerce in the Fiftieth Congress. His attendance at its 
meetings was constant, and in all matters considered by it his 
practical knowledge and his varied information gave him a 
standing therein most enviable. His assignment to that 
committee for the present Congress was in accordance with 
the wishes of all its members, and had his health permitted 
him to take his usual active part in its deliberations, he 



12 Address of Mr. Ctimmiiigs^ of New York^ on the 

would have continued among the foremost in perfecting the 
important measures referred to it. 

His absence, so frequently necessary, was felt severely at its 
meetings during both sessions of this Congress, depriving his 
colleagues of his courteous companionship ; and his death 
was most sincerely deplored. Fighting for life so many 
months, seeking bodily relief far from the constituents who 
loved and respected him, dying in a foreign land, so young, 
and with a future so full of promise, his death is attended 
with incidents of sadness not often realized by us. I re- 
ceived, tlie day after his body had reached Washington, a 
most feeling and sympathetic letter written to me by an 
esteemed friend of mine, a very prominent citizen in social 
and business life in Philadelphia, whose wife is a kinswoman 
of the deceased, in reading which my heart was touched, so 
full was it of affection and grief. 

In replying to this letter I promised to keep these sorrow- 
ing relatives informed of the time fixed for the final burial, 
so that with others of the family they might mingle their 
tears as the body of the departed was consigned to its last 
resting-place on earth. So that in Philadeljjhia there is 
deep affliction at the death of James Phelan, and his un- 
timely loss is lamented and his memory tenderly cherished 
by these friends in that city who have known and loved 
him long and well. 



Address of Mr. Cummings, of New York, 

Mr. Speaker: It is just possible that in speaking of the 
dead we do not pay sufficient heed to endeavor. Inertia is 
the bane, as action is the gloi-y, of existence. One is heed- 
less, the other requires design. And as motive measures 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 13 

the guilt of a bad action, so does purpose add to the merit 
of a good one. A man who strives for the right and fails is 
entitled to more credit than one to whom success comes 
without effort. But the greater glorj^ is accomplishment, 
which comes from both design and lalior. When Demos- 
thenes, to the question three times repeated as to what was 
most essential in oratory, replied, "Action, action, action," 
he could not have meant that action alone constituted the 
whole of eloquence. For gesticulation and gyration are 
methods with which the harlequin often excites mirth in his 
auditors. He must have meant that action was the most 
efficient method of enforcing the words of the orator, and 
was therefore essential to a finished performance. 

This much I have deemed a proper introduction to what 
I have to say of our dead friend. He was full of endeavor 
and he also accomplished. Young as he was he has, in my 
opinion, won a conspicuous and permanent place in Ameri- 
can literature. My acquaintance with him was brief, but 
exceedingly cordial. We were brothers in the field of jour- 
nalism and entered the Congressional arena together. 

What first impressed me was his intense Americanism. 
He loved his country as a son his mother. He sought the 
sources of her strength and glory as the hart seeks for run- 
ning waters. He studied the origin of her institutions, and 
his desire was that she should be first among all nations in 
all that was excellent. A stain upon her he felt as a blot 
upon his own honor. Confident that this would be manifest 
in whatever he put upon record designed to be lasting, and 
surprised that it should show itself so intensely in one born 
to affluence and educated abroad, I sought the source of it 
in his history of his own State. There I found it. 

I pronounce it a great work ; not great perhaps in its 
scope, but a finished performance of what he attempted. 



14 Address of Mr. Cummings^ of New York^ on the 

In my judgment it more than rivals any similar work that 
America has produced. Put to the trial, I believe it would 
hold its own and make a head-to-head finish with the best 
that has been done in philosophical and biographical his- 
tory. Its style is simi)licity itself. In presentation it is 
wonderfully vivid. In delineation every fiber is distinct. 
His story as he runs it off leaves no room for misconcep- 
tion. Every event is finished in its proper place. Every 
character is put in its proper position. When he completes 
the concurrence that brought them together there is no 
catching back at it. It is done. His philosophy in regard 
to events and his limning or character are done in such a 
flood of light that the reader feels himself in their very 
presence, with a perfect appreciation of their entire signifi- 
cance. 

Nor is his criticism of other writers less graphic or less 
just. Of this I will give but a single exami^le. Speak- 
ing of Jackson, that heroic figure in American history, he 
says : 

Parton lias all but ruined Jackson's reputation among the thoughtful. 
Sumner sinks him to the level of a " guerrilla chief or cross-roads poli- 
tician." 

Here is a volume of criticism in three lines. 

It is often said that a good history can not be written by 
a contemporary. James Phelan has done more to nega- 
tive this statement than any author I have ever read. 
Nothing could better show the magnanimity of his mind, 
and magnanimity is the sum of all great qualities. He 
may almost be said to have written in the very presence of 
tliat which he records, and yet we look in vain for any bias 
in the writer. 

The achievements of i-ugged pioneers, and the vigorous 
growth of the institutions which they founded, seem to 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 15 

have woven themselves into his very being, so that Ids love 
of them was like the love of life itself. And this he pub- 
lished to the world in almost every act and speech of his 
life. 

James Phelan was an example of the highest type of 
American citizenship— a patriot and the son of a patriot, a 
scholar and the son of a scholar, and yet above all and 
through all a man of the people. 

Educated abroad, no foreign education could make a 
foreigner of him. To know the caste and fashion of 
Europe only made his j)atriotic heart love more the simple 
manners of his native land. To see the pomj) and dignity 
of monarchy only confined him more closely to the paths 
of liberty and equality. Beneath the glitter and the show, 
the tinsel and the flash of royal state, he saw the poverty 
and oppression, the misery and suffering it breeds. The 
sight of the magnificent armies of Europe only impressed 
upon his though ful mind more deeply the great truth that 
large standing armies are a menace to free institutions. 
His foreign education, his knowledge of European life and 
manners, only intensified his love for the institutions of 
his country and his devotion to her welfare. 

Mr. Phelan was not only an illustration of American 
patriotism, but equally of the versatility which distin- 
guishes our countrymen. Educated for the law, he turned 
to the more congenial j)ursuits of journalism and states- 
manship. His short career in Congress is closed. Here, 
as everywhere else, he was a close and continuous student. 
Whatever he attempted, in that he excelled. He stood in 

the front ranks of journalism, of literature, of statesman- 
ship. 

His private character was without reproach ; his public 

services beyond the cavil of envy or the slander of partisan 



16 Address of Mr. Grosz'CNor^ of Ohio, on the 

spirit. Amid all the siren voices that steal upon the ear of 
the statesman, he heard naught hut the still small voice of 
duty. With him to hear was t(j obey. 

An editorial confrere, touched to the heart by his death, 
has poured forth a tribute to his memory, already quoted 
by the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Richardson]. I can 
not refrain from requoting these golden words : 

He never disappointed a friend ; he never ignored an obligation ; he 
never forfeited a confidence. His will was invincible ; his motives pure. 
His purposes were definite, but exemplary and lofty. His self-respect 
was intense ; therefore he strove for justice to others. He souglit no 
mean advantage, being jealous of his own honor. 

In him the living have lost a kind husband, a tender 
father, a faithful friend ; his State, a true son ; his country, 
a faithful servant. But he has left them that richest of all 
treasures, a spotless reputation, the memory of earnest deeds 

well done. 

Thus much have I felt impelled to say of James Phelan. 
I feel exalted that I knew him ; I revere his memory ; I re- 
joice that he was my countryman. 



Address of Mr. Grosvenor, of Ohio. 

Mr. Speaker: My acquaintance with the Hon. James 
Phelan was simply the acquaintance that a member of this 
House on this side of the floor has with a member on the 
other side with whom he does not come in contact in the 
committee room or the nearer associations of home. To my 
mind he has been fitly described by the eloquent gentleman 
from New York [Mr. Cummings]. With him pride and 
ambition as a writer and journalist was, in my judgment, 



Life and Character of James Phclan. 1 7 

above every other consideration ; and when I first made his 
acquaintance he made the impression npon me that he was 
aiso a man of fine social instincts and of tenacious attach- 
ment to the opinions he had formed. 

Later I discovered that he had just enough pride of opinion 
to make him jealous of criticism he deemed to be unjust ; 
but I realized that he was always fair and just to his oppo- 
nents. He did not make speeches on the floor of the House 
to such an extent as to bring liim under my notice in that 
particular. I looked upon him as an industrious, w(n-king 
member. He seemed, Mr. Speaker, to know that death was 
upon him ; for when I first met him he seemed to be a man 
who felt that against his life an uncontrollable, irresistible 
enemy had prepared a fatal and final attack. 

The great wonder to me is (and I have noticed it in the 
case of other men besides Mr. Phelan) that an intelligent 
man, with a full knowledge of his own condition, sensible 
that death was close upon him, that his life here was to bt; 
limited to a few months, and that he, struggling against 
overwhelming odds, should yet go straight forward in the 
• discharge of his public and private duties as though long 
life was before him and the culmination and fruition of a 
laudable ambition. I think that, perhaps, it is one of the 
wisest provisions of Providence that this should be so. 

It is not so in every man, and where it presents itself it is 
an indication of liigh courage and strong mental i)owerthat 
can bear up against all the encroachments of disease and re- 
fuse to surrender the ambition to achieve something more, 
something greater, something higher. I testify to the char- 
acter of Mr. Phelan, from the standpoint which I have 
indicated, as a man of stern devotion to duty. I differed 
with him upon a great many questions. 

T looked upon him as one whom I might class as an ex- 
H. Mis. 135 2 



18 Address of Mr. Grosvenor^ ofOhio^ on the 

treme man upon some questions that come up liere. I formed 
tliat judgmen''" more from his writings than from his oral 
declarations But I looked upon him as a man who was 
wholly conscientious ; a man who believed what he said. 
And, Mr. Speaker, that is an element of character that I 
admire, no matter though the possessor of it and I may 
differ very widely. The older I grow and the more I see 
of men and things, the more lenient I am toward the opin- 
ions of others, the more ready to doubt my own correctness 
against the judgment and testimony of men who differ with 

me. 

Mr. Speaker, death has made havoc of the Fifty-first 
House of the American Congress. 

What an appalling list ! I recall them one by one. The 
indomitable, energetic, clear-headed Burnes, who fell in a 
moment and was wafted away. Townshend, the mercurial, 
strong, quick, active partisan, gentleman, friend. Then 
Gay, full of years and experience, conservatism, Avisdom, 
value upon this floor. Pennsylvania has suffered. The 
oldest member of the House in point of service. Judge Kel- 
ley, died during this Congress, a man of vast resources of 
mind, of splendid application to the pursuit of the ambition 
of his life ; and Randall, the man of grandeur of character, 
sturdy integrity, wisdom, power; and Watson, whom we 
eulogized but a few days ago. Then Cox, of New York, 
than whom no more lovable man ever stood upon this 
floor, a man who could turn the storm of contest here into 
the gentle breeze of pleasant rivalry ; the readiest man upon 
his feet I ever saw. Then Wilber, and the brave, gallant 
Nutting. Next, Walker, of Missouri; and finally our friend 
whom we are here to do honor to-day. What a galaxy of 
talent, of honor, of statesmanship, of virtue ; and they have 
all gone before us. 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 19 

Mr. Speaker, on another occasion like this I said that, 
judging by my own feelings, by the inspirations that came 
to me, I would not believe that there was no future; I 
would not believe, I would not be driven to the belief, that 
there was not somewhere a place where we shall meet again, 
and surely I can not believe in the justice and the goodness 
of a being that would annihilate the twelve whose- names I 
have recited. They would not have been created for anni- 
hilation. It is a libel upon the common judgment of man- 
kind, and I believe that their example, their efforts, their 
character, are beckoning us onward to a home that we may 
not attain to, but that we may attain to, where partings like 
these will be no more. 



ADDRESS OF MR. BUNNELL, OF MINNESOTA. 

Mr. Speaker : These ceremonies are in honor of the late 
Hon. James Phelan, of the State of Tennessee. This asso- 
ciate died too early for his home, his State, and the nation. 
Death came to him at Nassau, on the 30th day of January 
of the present year, whither he had gone in a search for 
health. This great boon fled his search, and tlie remorse- 
lessness of the great enemy of the i*ace held its victim. It 
would not yield. The cultured mind, the gentle spirit, the 
loyal heart could not withstand its demands. 

I have ever thought that words of eulogy, such as. this 
occasion requires, should be pronounced by those who best 
knew the subject, who knew his parentage, his early life, 
his struggles, and triumphs in the early and later periods of 
life, the characteristics of the man, his mental powers, his 
moral and social qualities. 



20 Address of Mr. DufiftcH^ of Minnesota.^ on the 

I did not have the honor to know our lamented brother. 
An incident alone apparently justifies me to cherish a hope 
that I may in some, yet few words, fittingly mention a rea- 
son for my part in these commemorative services. 

In 1875 a daughter but recently married, with her young 
husband, a prospective student in one of the universities, 
reached Leipsic, Saxony. They soon formed the acquaint- 
ance of James Phelan, of Tennessee, then a young man 
of twenty, and a fellow-student in the university. This 
acquaintance ripened into a friendship at once strong and 
delicate. These happy social relations which existed be- 
tween these three young Americans in a foreign city were 
suddenly ended in the second month of the next year, when 
the young wife became a victim to the same foil d-isease 
which fifteen years later overtook, at Nassau, the ripe scholar 
and the distinguished statesman whose death we here to-day 
so profoundly mourn. 

The first written messages which gave to us the circum- 
stances of the death and burial of the daughter and young 
wife told us how tenderly and how lovingly the young 
fellow-student had conducted himself on the sad occasion. 
As the young man dropped his tears of sorrow and respect 
upon that grave, made in a land far from home, so here the 
father would mingle his tears Avitli the tears of those who 
to-day weep at the grave of a husband and father. 

James Phelan wrought grandly and died ere the merid- 
ian of life was reached, honored and loved by all who knew 
him. All these knew the nobleness of his nature, his bright 
intellectual powers, and, most of all, his warm, generous, 
loving heart. 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 21 



ADDRESS OF Mr, Baker, of New York. 

Mr. Speaker : It has often been said that death loves a 
shining mark, and such a mark he had in him we commem- 
orate to-day. In James Phelan, with whom I became 
acquainted during the last Congress, I discovered a gentle- 
man of rare merit and of most brilliant promise. I did not 
come to know him until we were thrown togetlier as mem- 
bers of the Committee on Commerce, to which, by the cour- 
tesy of the Speaker, I was assigned as chairman at the com- 
mencement of the present Congress. Then, in the few 
interviews that we had as members of that committee, I 
recognized in Mr. Phelan a gentleman of marked ability, 
a man who commended himself to me as one filled with an 
earnest desire to serve well his day and generation. 

Honest, earnest, intelligent, able, cultured, he was also 
ambitious to do his full share of work as a member of the 
committee, and he attended upon several occasions when I 
felt that he was really unable to be out of his bed. Unable as 
he was to attend to the duties of that committee for more than 
a brief period, he performed those duties admirably while 
he did attend, and in the interviews that we had from time 
to time, I found that he felt a profound interest in the many 
affairs connected with the public welfare which came before 
us for consideration. 

He took a very deep interest in the commercial growth 
of the country and in the advancement of all the interests 
that combine to make our people and our country great and 
prosperous, and his desire was plainly manifest to do any- 
thing and everything in his power as a statesman to secure 
the greatest possible good to every portion of our common 



22 Address of Mr. Bakcr^ of Neiv York^ on tJie 

country. I discovered also in my intercourse with Mr. Phe- 
LAN that he was a man of warm impulses and of a gentle, 
confiding nature. A warm friendship readily sprang up 
between us, and when he bade me good by with the remark 
that he hardly expected ever to meet me again, I felt, Mr. 
Speaker, that I had lost a friend, that the House of Repre- 
sentatives had lost an intelligent and able member, and that 
but a few short weeks, or at most months, would elapse 
until the world would be deprived of a man of unusual 
promise and remarkably endowed with those graces of mind 
and heart which we all so highly prize in our fellow-men. 

Mr. Speaker, it is fit that we should meet on this occasion 
to pay tribute to the memory of a man like Mr. Phelan. 
Our relations here are of such a character that when any 
of our colleagues lays down his life and passes to the un- 
known world, we readily forget all that may have occurred 
to excite antagonism in the fierce struggles of political life. 
But in a case like that of the friend we now mourn we 
know that we have been called upon to part with a man 
eminently worthy of our respect and confidence, and we feel 
that the loss is irreparable. I sadly pay tribute to his mem- 
ory as a friend and colleague. I extend to those whom he 
left behind a heartfelt sympathy, as I know that ever}^ one 
of his colleagues upon this floor has done and will do. 

I often feel that in the loss of such a man the poet would 
hardly be justified in saying that — 

Our lives are like the shadows 

On sunny hills that lie, 
Or grasses in the meadows 

Tliat blossom but to die. 
A sleep, a dream, a story 

By strangers (juickly told ; 
An unremaining glory 

Of things that soon are old. 



Life and Character of Ja^nes PJielan. 23 

The inflnence that we exert by our lives and our deeds 
lives after us, and life is something more than a mere shadow. 
James Phelan will continue to live in the influence which 
will be felt for all time upon his people and upon the world; 
and those who bear his name may well feel a pride and a glory 
in the example which he set, in the life he led, in the noble 
work of his brief years. 



ADDRESS OF Mr. CARUTH, OF KENTUCKY, 

Mr. Speaker : As the Fifty-first Congress draws to its 
mournful close it may be well to follow the distinguished 
gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Grosvenor] in his retrospective 
glance at the mortality which has followed its career. Mr. 
Speaker, scarcely had the gavel on yonder desk marked the 
death of the Fiftieth and the birth of the Fifty-first Con- 
gress when the scythe of death commenced its havoc in our 
ranks. Scarcely had we reached our homes after the ad- 
journment of the Fiftieth Congress when the news was 
borne to us on the wing of the lightning that Richard W. 
Townshend, of Illinois, honored by his people and his 
State, respected and beloved by his colleagues on this floor, 
had closed forever his earthly account. 

During the month that intervened before the members 
of the Fifty-first Congress were to enter on the active dis- 
charge of the duties of their high office we were told that 
that genial gentleman, the wit, the scholar, and the orator, 
whom all men knew and loved— Samuel Sullivan Cox— had 
been called from labor to repose. And when the members 
of this body gathered around that desk for the purpose of 
assuming the obligations of office there was missed from 
this presence one who had so long and so faithfully dis- 



^4 Address of Mr. Cariith^ of Kenhicky., on the 

charged his duty of Representative on this floor — one who 
had led his party, one who had presided over the delibera- 
tions of this body with justice and impartiality, one who 
had earned a fame extending beyond the bounds of the 
Union — a fame coextensive with the civilized world. 

While he was stretched ujjon a bed of sickness, and, as 
it has proved, his deathbed, the (mth of office was adminis- 
tered to him. We looked at his vacant desk ; we thought 
that no more would his presence be seen in this Chamber 
and no more would his voice be heard on this floor. But 
ere the messenger of death came to Samuel J. Randall, 
" the father of the House," his colleague, who had served 
longer than any other member of Congress — faithful and 
devoted to the interests of the people as he understood 
them — William D. Kelley was stricken down by the re- 
morseless hand of death. One after another fell, until, as 
we have been told by the gentleman from Ohio, there had 
been twelve deaths in this body. Last of all came he to 
whose memory we desire to pay tribute this day, James 
Phelan, of Tennessee. 

Mr. Speaker, I entered Congress at the same time that 
he commenced his career here ; and I was drawn to him 
not merely because of the fact that he was a Representa- 
tive from a neighboring State and had been partially edu- 
cated in the State of which I have the honor to be a Rep- 
resentative, but because I had been told he was the young- 
est man accredited by the people to represent them in the 
Federal Congress. I expected that when I came to know 
him I would see in him some of those traits that charac- 
terize youth more than manhood. 

But I found him as steadfast in purpose, as studious in 
habit, as grave and sedate in manner as if his brow had 
been marked by the finger of time and his hair had been 



Life and Character of James PJielan. 25 

whitened by tlie frosts of age. So well and so faithfully 
did he serve his people that they returned him as a mem- 
ber of tlie present House of Representatives. But although 
hope might have pictured to his mind a future of still 
greater honor and distinction, death came. Scarcely had 
his sun reached its meridian height before it was eclipsed 
in the darkness of the tomb. 

He had everything to make life desirable — a loving wife, 
children to cluster about his knees and to encircle themselves 
around his heart. With a mind educated far beyond that 
of many who had attained the greatest distinction, the pros- 
pect spread out to him was that of a long and useful life. 
But death cast its envious glance upon him and sent, to 
make slow and insidious progress in his vitals, that dread 
disease, consumption. And in a foreign land, far from the 
flag that he loved so well, his body was returned to dust 
and the spirit to God from whence it came. 

He lived a noble life. He did, so far as time afforded him 
opportunity, all that man could do, and left as a heritage to 
his children, as a cherished memory to his wife, a sj)otless 
reputation and an honored name. But he left besides that 
something that should be an example to all aspiring minds. 
He showed what could be done by energetic and faithful 
work and, as the gentleman from New York has so eloquently 
said, by earnest endeavor. He demonstrated to the ambi- 
tious and aspiring youth of this country that — 

The heights by great men reached and kept 

Were not attained by sudden flight; 
But they, while their companions slept, 

Were toiling upward in the night. 



26 Address of Mr. Evaiis^ of Tcmiessec^ on the 



Address of Mr. Evans, of Tennessee. 

Mr. Speaker : It was not my pleasure to have had the 
honor of an intimate acquaintance with the deceased, Hon. 
James Phelan, who represented the Tenth district of 
Tennessee in this House for the Fiftieth and Fifty -first 
Congresses, but of him and about him I have known much. 
His home, though within the same State, was over three hun- 
dred miles from mine, but his reputation was not confined 
to State lines or limits. He was a student, and thoroughly 
familiarized himself upon all questions ; an indefatigable, 
untiring worker ; an easy, graceful, arid forcible writer ; and 
an historian who had collected together facts, figures, data, 
and events connected with the formation of the State govern- 
ment of his adopted State and published a history of Ten- 
nessee, 

On the Sabbath preceding the opening of the first session 
of this Congress, in December, 1889, he sent me a message 
and I called upon him at his residence in this city. It 
seemed to me then that his health was so impaired that 
his life must be limited to a few short months. During our 
conversation at that time I cautioned him that I feared the 
effort was taxing his strength too much. He had risen 
from a sick bed and hastily dressed to meet me, and sat in 
front of the oj)en fire ; but he assured me the fatigue inci- 
dent to the journey here and the taking of a severe cold en 
route had temporarily, as he thought, drawn upon his 
strength. 

He ap])eared upon the floor of this House upon the open- 
ing of the session, but the demands upon his strength were 



Life and Character of James Phelaji. 27 

too much, and he was soon compelled to retire and seek 
additional strength and health, and finally was called to his 
long home while temporarily absent in a foreign land. 

James Phelan was known as a manly man among men; 
a leader in thought and expression. His quiet, gentle man- 
ners, earnest, honest ways, won him friends with all he 
met. He was a gentleman of the highest type. He was 
loved and honored most among those who knew him best. 

In the death of James Phelan Tennessee has lost a most 
valued citizen, and this nation mourns her loss. 



ADDRESS OF MR.'STOCKBRIDGE, OF MARYLAND. 

Mr. Speaker : Once more do we pause in the performance 
of our legislative duties in this body to pay the last tribute 
of respect to the worth of a departed member of this House. 
Once more the Fifty-first Congress mourns the death of one 
who entered with us upon its labors. Once more is he to 
whose memory we bring this flower of tribute one of the 
young men of this House. 

James Phelan realized in his life and in his acts the idea 
of American manhood. Highly educated, with breadth of 
view, but endowed with that faculty greater than all, a 
broad humanity, in his veins the blood leaped quicker when 
he felt that by some act or word of his the sufferings of his 
fellow-men might be palliated or relieved. 

Those who served with him in the last Congress bear elo- 
quent tribute to the steadfastness with which he ever stood 
ready to lend a helping hand, ay, to lead the way in that 
which should tend in the highest sense to the benefit of man. 

The age in which we live, Mr. Speaker, is called variously 



28 Address of Mr. Stockbridge, of Maryland, on the 

one of steam and one of electricity. This designation typi- 
fies that in this day, as in no past period of the world's his- 
tory, there is a crush, a pressure, and a struggle— a resistless 
battle going on in which he who would stand in the fore- 
most rank can reach that point, not by grappling upon the 
skirts of happy chance, but only by individual strength of 
character, by indomitable will, by dauntless courage, Ijy 
determination of purpose. 

Such it was which early in life made James Phelan 
known, not merely in a narrow circle of home but in the 
wider circle of associates in his State, as a man whose views 
were a breadth that others should give heed to and giving 
heed could pattern after and follow. 

Hence it was that at an early age he entered this Hall, a 
Representative of the people, to bear here that same standard 
which in other fields he had so courageously maintained. 
Here, too, he typified the fatal principle of the age, that 
resistless spirit of perseverance ; and close, accurate work, 
coupled with profound research, characterized his labors as 
a member of this body. 

The human frame is not like a piece of machinery. It 
has limitations upon its capacity for work, upon its powers 
of endurance ; and James Phelan fell a martyr to his in- 
a])ility to measure his own strength. Had his physical 
strength been equal to that of his purpose and will he would 
stand to-day on this floor sharing with us the labors of these 
the closing hours of the Fifty -first Congress. 

I do not propose, Mr. Speaker, to enter into any lengthy 
eulogy. I simply desire to call attention to tlie fact that 
those characteristics which were strong in him, and brought 
him early in life to this Hall, wliich made him respected and 
revered, honored by his associates, ultimately carried him 
away. 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 29 

But, Mr. Speaker, while we contemplate tliese elements in 
the character of James Phelan, we can but feel that in them 
there is a lesson to be appropriated by each one of us ; a 
lesson to be appropriated by the young men of this country ; 
a lesson that it is by such lives as his, by the same courage, 
the same steadiness of purpose, the same untarnished repu- 
tation, the same devotion to the interest of humanity and 
the interests of the nation, that this country must continue 
its prosperous course. Without it the future of our nation 
would indeed be dark. It is when such men as James 
Phelan come forth as the representatives of the people, 
when such men come to the front, they typify the underlying 
spirit which is not only to make our nation prosperous and 
blessed, but to perpetuate it in the days to come. 



■ ADDRESS- OF Mr. Washington, of Tennessee. 

Mr. Speaker : On the 30th of January, 1891, under the 
beautiful tropical skies, surrounded by the sweet flowers of 
the perpetual spring of the Bahamas, the Hon. James 
Phelan died, at Nassau, New Providence. 

His father was the Hon. James Phelan, a distinguished 
member of the Confederate Senate from Mississippi, a State 
celebrated for the long roster of its brilliant public men. 
After the close of the war he removed to Memphis, Ten- 
nessee, where he was an eminent member of the bar until his 

death in 1873. 

James Phelan, to whose memory we pay a mournful 
tribute to-day, was born at Aberdeen, Mississippi, Decem- 



30 Address of Mr. IVashiiigtoji^ of Tennessee^ on the 

ber 7, 185G. He had barely entered Ms thirty-fifth year 
when death cut short his promising career. 

His father was of Irish extraction, and his mother of 
Scottish descent. This Scotch-Irish combination accounts 
no doubt for that persistency of purpose, that tenacity of 
opinion, which, united with a genial social disposition, so 
strongly marked his character. He was proud of his Irish 
blood, and was ever ready to uphold the cause and defend 
the people of the Emerald Isle. 

His earliest school training away from home was received 
at the Kentucky Military Institute, at Frankfort. In 1874 
he went to Germany and there finished his education at the 
University of Leipsic, where he took the degree of Doctor of 
Philosophy, in February, 1878, ranking among the foremost 
students of his time. Unlike so many young men, he re- 
turned from the German University unspoiled by his foreign 
education and long sojourn and was still a plain, ambitious, 
patriotic American. 

His philosophical and historical researches and comparisons 
taught him the true value of American free institutions. 
He saw that here in this asylum for the oppressed of every 
land was to be worked out the latest and best solution of 
self-government untrammeled by the claims of aristocratic 
and hereditary rule. A thorough believer in the inaliena- 
ble rights of the people, a born democrat, the more he 
learned of monarchical governments the more intensely 
American he became. 

After his return from Europe he studied law in Memphis, 
where he made his home, and, being admitted to the bar in 
due course of time, began the practice of his profession. 
Pursuing the law with all the ardor and energy of his 
nature, he yet found much time to devote to literary and 
jjolitical work. 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 31 

He took an active part in local politics at Memphis, and 
meanwhile, his speeches and writings on national affairs 
attracting much attention, he was urged by his friends in 
1884 to become a candidate for Congress. He declined, and 
wisely bided his time. 

Two years later, in 1886, considering that his hour had 
come, he declared himself a candidate. He made a hot, 
exciting canvass against heavy odds and under adverse cir- 
cumstances, which attracted attention over the entire State. 
His progress was steady. In the end he swept away all 
obstacles, rallied the representatives of all classes to his 
support, especially the young Democracy, and was trium- 
phantly nominated. His opponent, Hon. Zachary Taylor, 
was an able, brilliant young Republican, seeking a reelec- 
tion, but Phelan's majority was almost unprecedented for 
that district. So faithfully and efficiently did he serve his 
constituents in the Fiftieth Congress that he was renomi- 
nated without opposition and elected to this Congress by a 
largely increased majority. 

His election was contested by his opponent, L. B. 
Eaton. The case is still pending before the Elections 
Committee of this House, but so far as our beloved col- 
league is concerned, the finding of that committee can make 
no difference now. He has gone to that realm of eternal 
light where partisanship is unknown, where all the preju- 
• dice, passion, and intrigue of party politics, where all the 
subterfuges and thin disguises of the demagogue become as 
clear as the light of day at noontide. 

I can not more tersely and aptly describe what James 
Phelan did in politics and literature than to quote the 
words of his most intimate friend, Col. H. M. Doak : 

In politics Phelan has done just enough to show genius for politics. 
In Congress he served just long enough to show that he would have 



32 Address of Air. Washington^ of Tennessee^ on the 

made a great and valuable statesman. He has left his political career a 
wonderful broken column ; but it is all pure Parian as far as it goes 
towards the stars. In his history he has left an enduring fabric for 
Tennessee to cherish. 

Well do I recall his face and form as he sat in the last 
row of chairs on this (the Democratic) side of this Hall in 
the Fiftieth Congress, bending over his desk all day ; writ- 
ing with a ceaseless energy ; writing all the time, letters, 
articles for publication, editorials for his paper in Memphis, 
and at the same time following and taking part in all the 
proceedings of the House. I never knew a man who worked 
harder or faster. He worked as if he felt that his time was 
short ; that his days were already numbered, and that the 
tasks which he had set for his hand to accomplish must be 
finished ere the coming of the fatal hour. 

One of the first objects of legislation wliich he deter- 
mined to accomplish was the passage of a bill guaranteeing 
to Memphis a great bridge across the Mississippi River. 
Every Memphian who goes out near the beautiful custom- 
house, on that bluff overhanging the mighty stream which 
sweeps so majestically onward to the Gulf, and gazes down 
the river on that magnificent bridge which joins with bands 
of steel Tennessee to Arkansas — -the great West and the 
growing South — should feel that he looks on a monument 
to James Phelan's industry, better than marble, more en- 
during than sounding brass. 

I know with what assiduit}' he applied himself to the 
intricate and involved questions affecting interstate com- 
merce — a subject he had resolved, as a member of the Com- 
merce Committee, to master. He did not speak much or 
often in the House ; yet few measures passed which he had 
not scrutinized. 

During these two years of the Fiftieth Congress, working 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 33 

night uiid day — politics, his newspaper, his school history 
of Tennessee taking all of his time save what he gave to the 
delight of his friends in social converse — he was literally 
burning the candle at both ends, and when the Fifty-first 
Congress assembled he was hardly able to be in his seat. 
He came to the House but a few times until he was forced 
to the retiracy of his home, there to begin alone the hand-to- 
hand battle with grim death. No man ever made a more 
determined, a more cheerful fight for life. It was heroic. 
But to his friends who called it seemed from the start that 
the death mark was on his brow. 

Soon after reaching his majority he married Miss Mary 
Early, of Lynchburg, Virginia. In his home life he was the 
model of a perfect husband and father. His wife and 
three little children were with him during the last months 
of his life in the Bahamas. In their terrible bereavement 
they have the deepest sympathy of all who knew him. 

His remains were sent here from Nassau, and on the 8th 
of February we carried his inanimate body to Oak Hill 
Cemetery, in Georgetown. There in the receiving vault, 
under the ivy-grown mortuary chapel, we left him. The 
pale winter sun came slanting through the naked boughs. 
The biting winds whispered among the ghostly tombs. The 
dying day seemed typical of our dead comrade, whose light 
of life had gone flickering out, chilled by the great con- 
queror. Death, before it had even borne the flowers of that 
fruit of which it gave such glorious promise. 

Mr. Speaker, I will append to my remarks for publication 
some editorial extracts from the Tennessee papers, which 
will show how our James Phelan was esteemed by his con- 
stituents, by his brethren of the press, and by the people of 
his State. 

The following editorial is from the paper formerly owned 
H. Mis. 135 3 



34 Address of Mr. Washington^ of Tennessee., on the 

by Mr. Phelan, tlie Memijliis-Appeal Avalanche, of Sun- 
day, February 8, 18'J1 : 

JAJVIES PHELAN. 

A star lias fallen from out our firmament. James Phelan is dead. 
The solemn word comes from the Bahama Isles. Thither had he gone 
in the hope that the salt and temperate air of the tropic ocean would 
give him health. The journey , the isolation, were in vain. His inani- 
mate body returns. The sjnrit is uncaged. He whom we loved and 
honored has passed away. We have only to pay such tribute as affec- 
tion may prompt. We shall remember him. A great man once, in his 
youth, carved his name high upon a cliff that less eager and brave men 
thought inaccessible. The years of Phelan's life were few, but he 
wrought wondrously. His name is written where it will endure. He' 
has left as a heritage to his children a record of extraordinary achieve- 
ment. Becaiise he was our neighbor we should not be insensible of the 
real greatness of the man. 

With the single exception of Alexander Hamilton, no man has ever 
appeared in the poKtical life of America, who, at the age of thirty, had 
accomplished so much or gave such promise of a surpassing career. In 
youth a most assiduous student, he completed his education at the Ger- 
man universities. Other men have taken the same course only to be- 
come impracticables in the every -day affairs of the world. Not so with 
Phelan. He came home full-armed, ready, alert, ambitious, and deter- 
mined to make name and fame for himself as an American citizen. He 
projected his line of life carefully. He seemed to anticipate his own 
future. He proceeded patiently but rapidly. Every obstacle in the defi- 
nite course he had marked out was overcome. At thirty, what had he 
done? He was a member of Congress. He had proven himself a 
thorough journalist, owning and directing one of the leading newspapers 
of the South. He had written a history of Tennessee, which is so schol- 
arly in its text, so acceptalile in its treatment, and so exceptional in its 
worth, as to establish him in high rank among those whose names adorn 
American literature. Where is his like for industry, for versatility, and 
for that (piality of genius which comprehends any task and fulfills any 
obligation ? 

It may be asked if Phelan was a brilliant man. For answer turn the 
diamond of his character and note if from any facet the light does not 



Lije and Character of James Phelan. 35 

glow. No youth more brilliant has this land known, A scholar to whom 
the classics were familiar, a politician who keenly apprehended the popu- 
lar desire, a journalist who had the rare gift of prescience which enabled 
him to know what his readers would want to know, a student who found 
no labor too arduous if conclusions might be reached, a man of opinions 
grounded in aphilosophy that compelled respect, a leader among his fel- 
lows by virtue of his common sense and his intuitive perception of riglit 
policies, James Phelan, born to command, commanded. His will was 
invincible, but his motives were pure. His purposes were definite, but 
they were exemplary and lofty. His seK-respect was intense ; therefore 
he strove to do justice to others. He was ready to forgive a wrong when 
it proceeded from an honest difference of view. He sought no mean ad- 
vantage, being jealous of his own honor. Sincere himself, he demanded 
smcerity of others. He never disappomted a friend; he never ignored an 
obligation; he never forfeited a confidence. Being true to himself, it fol- 
lowed, " as the night the day," that he could not " be false to any man." 
But who knew Phelan liest ? Surely not those who knew him only 
in the various phases of his public life. To those who were the compan- 
ions of his boyhood, who had struggled with him to meet the exac- 
tions of the college class-room, who had joined him on the ball-field, who 
had camped with him in the forest— who, in short, knew the boy that 
was in the man— to them comes the profoundest grief that he is no more. 
Their affection found deeper root than in admiration for his successes. 
They knew him to be a simple-hearted, generous, helpful, unaffected man , 
who rejoiced in the happiness of others, who was sensible of the value of 
human love, who was a child when there was time to play, whose heart was 
easily touched, and whose friendship held fast in all weathers. To them 
was given a glimpse of the man's inner nature. They saw the melan- 
choly aspect of the ti-emendous battle he made for quick personal dis- 
tinction. 

He was at Leipsic at school when he became first convinced that his 
expectation of life was short. He was hopeful, but he lost no time. He 
could not afford to idle on the way. He saw the shadow that rested on 
the future. He could not put it out- of account. The terrible realization 
was his, and his alone. It was from this that his nervous force proceeded. 
His energy was almost unnatural. People said he was burning the can- 
dle at both ends. He knew it. but he also knew the reason why. A day 
lost was not to be made up. From him was shut the fond belief that after 



36 Address of Mr\ Washington^ of Tennessee^ on the 

the struggle would come the restful vales of age. It was always with him 
a race with the grim specter. Yet he was joyous, undeterred, buoyant, 
and ever planning. When the real conflict with disease came he fought 
for life as men have rarely fought. He perceived the futility of the strug- 
gle, yet he was defiant. He took every chance. For months he lived by 
the sheer force of his will. At last the end is reached. 

The heroic soul is released. His dreams are over. His ambitious spirit 
is at rest. " The expectancy and the rose of the fair State" is become a 
memory. The eulogies we pay can not be deemed extravagant, though 
he who has been taken away was but yesterday, it seems, 
" In the morn and liquid dew of youth." 

His work was not complete. But though the shaft he reared lacks the 
capital, that which remains to tell us of his genius is so wondrous in its 
beauty and promise that we may not question what the grace of its ulti- 
mate perfection would have been. It is eloquent of all that is best and 
bravest in man. 

The following editorial is taken from the Memphis (Ten- 
nessee) Daily Commercial of Sunday, February 8, 1891 : 

DEATH OF REPRESENTATFVE PHELAN, 

Announcement of the death of Mr. James Phelan, member of the 
Federal House of Representatives from this district, is made by telegraph 
in another column. The sad event occurred on the 30th of January, in 
Nassau, whither he had gone in recuperation of liis health, after he had 
sold the Avalanche. Before that event he had for several months made 
trial of the dry air of southern Texas, but without avail, and he went to 
Nassau as a last refuge in an, effort to stay the hand of the destroyer. As 
in the case of nearly all persons suffering with consumption, he was full 
of hope, but his friends — those nearest to him — in Memphis could not 
deceive themselves, and they felt, in parting with him, that it was for the 
last time. 

Mr. Phelan came prominently into public view five years ago as a can- 
didate for Congress. Up to that time lie had been identified with the 
Avalanche as its proprietor for a few years. But he was not as conspic- 
uous even in that position as he subsequently became as a candidate for 
the Democratic nomination to Congress. As such he had to confront tlic 
fixed purposes of the leaders of the party in the district, who had deter- 
mined to ])lace Col. Jcwiah Patterson in nomination. But Mr, Phelan, 



Life and Character of James Plielan. 37 

having made some preparations in the form of a personal canvass of the 
district, declined to give way, and the result was a joint preliminary can- 
vass by him and Colonel Patterson, which, for almost bitterness, has never 
been surpassed, even during campaigns between candidates of opposing 
parties. It resulted in Mr. Phelan's triumph, in his nomination before 
the convention without ojjposition, as Colonel Patterson very prudently 
withdrew on finding himself in a hopeless minority. Two years sub- 
sequently Mr. Phelan was renominated withoiit opposition an<l was 
reelected, but liis seat was contested by his Republican opponent, Col. 
L. B. Eaton, and the case is still undecided. 

Mr. Phelan possessed many of the qualities necessary for success in 
public life. He was characterized by an indomitable will, by a driving 
energy, and an aggressiveness that sometimes precipitated hiui into 
unnecessary bickering and debate. He could not wait for attack, but 
always took the initiative, and with a boldness and courage which even 
his enemies admired, pvished to the front and there remained imtil the 
battle was won or lost. He was of Scotch-Irish origin, and by tempera- 
ment was an excellent illustration of the daring and dash of the one 
race and the bull-dog tenacity of the other. He was fearless as to con- 
sequences, and when his interests were at stake manifested an unyield- 
ing disposition. As a Democrat he was well-grounded in the princi- 
ples of his party, and was an earnest advocate of them and a ready 
defender. Of this he gave the people he represented in Congress the very 
best proofs during the campaigns he made in the disti'ict. As a speaker 
he was noted for directness of statement and an unflinching courage ; 
for persistency and pertinacity, and, when necessary, for a piignacity 
which nothing could turn aside but the conceded defeat of his opponent. 

As to his usefulness in public life it is impossible to say anything more 
than that it promised well for him and his constituents. Nothing above 
the performance of his routine duties was to be expected of him in the 
first two sessions of Congress (the Fiftieth), and he was too far gone in 
consumption to do more than defend his seat in the Fifty-first, now 
nearing the close of its life. 
The disease he suffered from and the knowledge that it was hereditary 
in his family must account for the restlessness which prevented the 
calmness that usually waits on deliberation. For this reason he was 
unable to carry his history of Tennessee, an admirably projected work, 
with anything like detailed consecutiveness down to tlie time he had 



38 Address of Mr. Washington^ of Tennessee^ on the 

fixed upon, or even to the close of the civil war. He applied himself 
assiduously in research for material for this vrork in the State library 
and in that of the Historical Society in Nashville, but his distractions of 
business and of public employment intervened to prevent as satisfactory 
results as twenty years later, when he had had a Hfe's experience, he 
might have accomplished. 

Mr. Phelan was at the best a man of promise, of bright promise, who, 
under circumstances of good health and seclusion, might have made the 
name he coveted in literature. His aspirations were all of them noble 
ones, and his ambition to excel was worthy of the best. His tastes and 
inclinations wei'e literary, and his sympathies were in that direction, and 
what he accomplished in his two histories — one of them for schools — 
counting even their angrily disputed failings, gave earnest of better things 
when time had mellowed the mind now untimely silenced forever. 

The following editorial is taken from the Memphis (Ten- 
nessee) Public Ledger, of Sunday, February 8, 1891: 

DEATH OF JAMES PHELAN. 

The genial face of our gifted young Congressiuan will be seen no more 
on the streets of Memphis. After a gallant struggle with an incurable 
disease he breathed his last at Nassau on the 30th of January. A valiant 
spirit went back to the God that gave it and the pale tenement that con- 
tained it will be returned to this country and committed to mother earth. 

The news of Mr. Phelan's death, although coming sooner than ex- 
pected and causing sincere and general sorrow, was not a great surjirise. 
For nearly two years he had l^een in ill health, and for more than one year 
was but seldom in his seat in C'ongress. He spent several months in South 
Carolina; then last spring came here en route for San Antonio, Texas, and 
points beyqnd there. The little news that came of an encouraging nature 
from time to time was nearly always supplemented by an expression of 
doubt and anxiety. Finally he returned to Avind up his business affairs, 
and only a few of his special friends intruded on his privacy. All felt 
that the end of a bright and useful life was near at hand and that to call 
on him was to enter but the anteroom of a death chamber. Still he was 
courageous, cheerful, and to some degree hojieful. He had an idea, as 
most peo])le have under similar conditions, tluit lie might live uuicli 
Icmger, and felt that it was liis duty to figlit against fate Ui the end, be it 
far or near, and so he did. 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 39 

On the 8th of November he sold the Avalanche, a property that he 
valued very highly, to the Appeal, and soon after that went to Washing- 
ton to join his wife and children, and with them soon afterward sailed 
for the Bahamas, hoping that salt air and a soft southern climate would 
afford a temporary relief and probably give him a new lease on life. But 
it was too late ; he had long before passed the fatal danger line, and no 
change, no human fortitude, medical skill, or tender care of affectionate 
hands were of any avail. No details have been received. We merely 
know that it is all over; that a weary, wornout body is no longer capa- 
ble of pain or feeling, and that the soul that so long beat against the 
bars is released from its abode of weariness and waiting. 

The life of James Phelan has often been published. He was born at 
Aberdeen, Mississippi, December T, 1856, and was therefore a little over 
thirty-four years of age. In his brief life he accomplished more than 
many prominent men of twice his years. His early education was re- 
ceived at the schools here in Memphis. Then he attended the Kentucky 
MUitary Institute, at Frankfort, Kentucky, and afterward took a special 
course at the university at Leipsic, Germany, where he was given the 
degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Coming home soon after he was of age, 
he was admitted to the bar and entered actively into the practice of his 
profession, and also engaged in business and literary pursuits. He wi-ote 
witli a free hand upon various topics for leading magazines, and found 
time later on to write a concise, analytical, and valual)le school history 
of Tennessee, which involved liim in a personal and unpleasant discussion 
about a year ago. This was carried on through two of the leading papers 
of the State, and at onetime seemed to threaten a resort to the code. 

Mr. Phelan was very happily married a few years after his return from 
Germany to a Miss Early, niece of Jubal Early, of Virginia. She is a 
highly educated woman and has been his faithful adviser and support in 
all his struggles, and shared his darkest days as well as his triumplis. 
Under his proprietorship the Avalanche was a vigorous, incisive paper, 
and a power in the land, although it was never used as a factor to pro- 
mote his private or political fortunes. He was respected by true men in 
both political parties alike. Had he lived, his second term in Congress 
would have expired on the 4th of March next. Although his seat was 
contested vigorously by Colonel Eaton, the Republicans never cared to 
press the matter and declare his seat vacant. Owing to ill health he de- 
clined to be a candidate for nomination at the last Congressional con- 



40 Address, of Mr. Washington^ of Temtessee^ on the 

vention. Hence Col. Josiali Patterson was the nominee and was elected 
l>y a handsome majority. 

It is not easy to analyze the character of such a man as James Phe- 
TjAN. He came of heroic Irish stock on liis father's side, and inherited 
Scotch tenacity and wisdom from his mother. He was aggressive witli- 
out being unjust, self-reliant witliout vanity or egotism, and sought the 
suffrages of the people only to increase opportunities of usefulness. 
Tlioroughly public-spirited and in sympathy with tlie masses, he at the 
same time looked after and managed his private affair's ^vith consummate 
skill. A wide acquaintance with leading politicians, literary men, and 
financiers gave him superior advantages. We seldom meet or read of such 
a man. His versatility was something wonderful. He could call nearly 
everybody he had ever met by name, and was equally at home in a draw- 
ing room or in a company of griniy workmen. 

" He was a man, take him for all in all, 
"We shall not look upon his Uke again." 

Peace to his soul, and all honor to the memory of James Phelan. 
Tlie world is the better for his brief sojourn in it, and those who emulate 
his sterling traits of character, his devotion to family and country, and 
liis struggles in the various vicissitudes of life from boyhood and youth 
to a premature grave, may also serve themselves, their fellow-man, and 
their Creator with becoming modesty and a clear conscience. 

Editorial from the Memphis Scimitar, Saturday evening, 
February 7- 

JAMES PHELAN DEAD. 

A brief dispatch from Nassau, New Pi-ovidence, via New York, an- 
nounces the death of Hon. James Phelan, member of Congress from 
this district. 

The news is not surprising, in view of Mr. Phelan's state of health 
when he left Memphis for Nassau four months ago, but his friends were 
not without hope that the mild climate of the Bahamas would lengthen 
liis days, thougli they could not expect a cure. 

There is no need to tell who James Phelan was or what part he lias 
played in the public view. The people of the Tenth district have shown, 
by electing liim twice to Congress, their appreciation of liis talents and 



Life and Character of James Plielan. 41 

devotion to their interests. He gave promise of becoming one of the 
best, as he was one of the youngest. Representatives that Tennessee lias 
evei" had in the National Legislature. 

Personally as well as politically Mr. Phelan was a man of mark. He 
had the faculty of binding his friends to him with liooks of steel, and 
those who opposed him could not but pay tribute to tlie virile mentality 
and courage for wliicli lie was distinguished. 

He was a little more than thirty-five years old. The Scimitar extends 
its heartfelt sympathy to his stricken family. 

The following editorial is from the Daily American, Nasli- 
ville, Tennessee, Sunday morning, Fehrviary 8, 1891 : 

THE DEATH OF HON. JAMES PHELAN, 

It is with a feeling of regret singularly painful that we announce the 
death of Hon. James Phelan, though for some months the steady rav- 
ages of disease have foretold with di-eadful certainty that the end was 
near. The failure of Mr. Phelan's health marred a brilliant career in 
politics, and liis vacant seat in Congress during the whole of his past 
term has been a mute but pathetic witness to the fast-fading promise of 
high honors to be achieved in the service of his country. 

Mr. Phelan was a man of high scholarly attainments and a student in 
general literature, as well as in questions of poUtics and political econ- 
omy. If he had been spared we believe the expectations of his friends 
would have been fuUy met by his success in the path he had chosen 
to pm-sue. He possessed singular qualifications for a successful political 
career, combining in a rare degi-ee the qualities of a shrewd, practical 
politician and party manager with those of a thoughtful and intelligent 
student of public afi'airs. 

Mr. Phelan's literary work in enduring form is confined to his liistory 
of Tennessee, a book which has received the highest praise from a num- 
ber of the best hterary critics in the country, and which will hold a place 
as a classic among State histories. His editorial work on the Memphis 
Avalanche was of the highest order of journalism, and he wrote largely 
in the way of literary reviews for some of the leading journals of the 
country. He was yet but a young man when death closed down upon 
his work, and there was just enough of his life to give a definite prom- 
ise of a career full of honor to himself and of usefulness to his country. 



42 Address of Mr. Breckinridge, of Arkansas^ on the 



ADDRESS OF Mr. Breckinridge, of Arkansas. 

Mr. Speaker : The death of Hon. James Phelan is felt 
almost as much by the people of Arkansas as it is by the 
people of his own State of Tennessee. To both, so high and 
promising a character is dear, and to the whole country the 
loss of such a man is a calamity. Living in the city of 
Memphis, which, from its superb position upon the Chicka- 
saw Bluff, is in the sight and touch of our people, his rapid 
and upward progress was noted by us all, and we felt that 
we, as well as his own State, had gained a true and capable 
friend. 

Though dying young and full of honors, yet his advance- 
ment was not of a light or ephemeral order. With the in- 
tensity and strength of his blended Irish and Scotch blood 
he began "the battle of life early. Every step was marked 
by careful preparation, and no man was more thoughtful, 
painstaking, and methodical than he. His high sense of 
honor and intensity of purpose gave a brilliancy to his life 
that may have deceived some as to the depth and strength 
of the foundations he laid and upon which he builded. The 
most liberal culture of the schools, acquired both in this 
country and in Europe, was strengthened by practice and 
assimilated with sound judgment. 

He was a forceful combination of the theoretical and the 
practical man, which is always the most forcible and effect- 
ive man. His tastes were simple and pure, his sympathies 
broad and generous: his mind, discriminating and strong, 
steadily increased in power and grasp; and it was such a man 
that achieved success, acquired the admiration and respect, 
and built up the highest expectations of the people among 
whom lie lived. 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 43 

Sir, it is the honor of our peo^Dle and the hope of our 
country that when such a man is needed he is found, and 
that when found he receives public recognition and ap- 
plause. Here lies the safety and honor of society. Here 
lies the strength of the Republic. Upon the national bier 
we tender this offering of the South. He loved all parts 
of his country, loved all classes of countrymen, defended 
his own, warred upon none, and I can wish no better thing 
than that our future councils may be adorned by men like 
unto him. 



ADDRESS OF MR. WHEELER, OF ALABAMA. 

Mr. Speaker : Among the members who appeared before 
the Speaker's desk at the assembling of the Fiftieth Con- 
gress was one whose bearing, figure, and grace attracted 
marked attention. He looked so youthful that it seemed 
he could hardly have reached the constitutional age. His 
face unmistakably indicated culture and intelligence, while 
his bearing was characterized by that lofty courtesy which 
we all soon learned to admire and respect in him. He was 
the elected member for the cultivated district which includes 
the city of Memphis. 

He had been chosen by the people of that cultivated me- 
tropolis to guard their interests in the Congress of the 
United States, and all remember the faithfulness, zeal, and 
energy displayed by him in the performance of his duty. 
He bade fair to become one of the most distinguished men 
of all our Southern States, and had God spared him there 
could be no doubt in my mind that he would have been 
one of the eminent men who are to be developed from the 
youth now growing up in the Southern country. 



44 Address of Mr. Wheeler^ of Alabama., on the 

None of us would have conceived it possible that this 
youthful looking colleague was one whose loss we would he 
called upon to mourn before the close of the Fifty-first Con- 
gress. 

James Phelan sprang from a family of character and dis- 
tinction. His father was an eminent jurist and served with 
great credit to himself and the State of Mississippi in the 
senate of the Confederate States. His uncle was also an 
eminent jurist and for many years adorned tlie supreme 
bench of the State of Alabama, and the opinions written by 
that distinguished judge are quoted in the text-books on 
nearly every subject that has engaged the attention of writers 
upon law. 

Our departed and lamented brother was a worthy descend- 
ant of his noble ancestry. Educated in the best universities 
of this and foreign countries, finished by travel and intimate 
association with the most highly polished society and the 
best minds of America and Europe, and possessing most, if 
not all, of the accomplishments of a graceful and a courtly 
gentleman, he had, before reaching the age at which most 
men begin their careers, advanced far up on the ladder of 
literary fame. 

Phelan's history of Tennessee will take its place among 
the most valuable historical works of the time, and is con- 
clusive evidence of the author's painstaking study, judicial 
and impartial mind, and of his high mental endowments. 
How sadly we heard of his failing health, and finally the last 
message came from the isle where gentle breezes, warmed 
by the Gulf Stream, play among the flowers whose perfume 
fills the air of that far-off land, the warmth, brightness, and 
l)eauty of which was so hapj)ily typical of the gentle, kindly, 
and lovable spirit which there, to ours and his country's loss, 
took its flight to another and purer home. 



Life a7id Character of James PJielaii. 45 

James Phelan, thdiigli the last one expected to pass 
away, was possibly the best prepared of any of us to leave 
this world and meet his God. He was a Christian in all 
that is implied by that term; a Christian in his commune 
with his Maker and in his dealings with man. His life, like 
that of all true Christian men, was a beautiful exemplifica- 
tion of what such a life should be. Surrounded by his 
charming family, a wife well worthy of such a man, and 
children who promise to take their place as his worthy 
successors in future years, his was a home which it is sad 
to contemplate, bereft as it now is of a loving father and 
devoted husband. 

Mr. Speaker, it is sad that this is all we can do and say in 
behalf of this our beloved colleague. He has passed away. 
He has gone to another land, and we know, Mr. Si)eaker, 
that he will reap in that land the reward of a good, pure, 
noble, and well-spent life, wholly unselfish in its aims and 
animated by the loftiest patriotism in its purposes. 

Calm, peaceful, self-contained, consciously the master of 
many noble natural gifts and a vast amount of laboriously 
acquired knowledge, and yet as unpretentious and modest 
as a girl, we can well imagine that it was the close of such 
a life, devoid of self and consecrated to the welfare of 
others, that the poet contemplated when he wrote these 
beautiful lines : 

Let sober ti'iumphs wait upon my bier : 
I'll not forgive that friend who sheds one tear. 
Let no unwortliy sounds of grief be heard, 
No loud laments, not one unseemly word ; 
For whether gathered in life's early mourn, 
Or in old age he drops, like an ear of corn 
Full ripe, he dies on nature's noblest plan 
Who lives to reason and who dies a man. 



4(5 Address of Mr. Enloc, of Tennessee, on the 

Mr. McMiLLiN. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of gentle- 
men who desire to submit remarks, and I will ask that 
general leave upon this subject be granted. 

The Speaker iwo temiiore. Without objection that leave 
will be granted. 

There was no objection. 



Address of Mr. Enloe, of Tennessee. 

Mr. Speaker: James Phelan was my friend. We came 
into Congress together and were intimately associated dur- 
ing his service here. The nobility <:)f his soul and the excel- 
lence of his character compelled the admiration and won 
the respect of all who knew him. He was whole-souled, im- 
pulsive, generous, and brave, and an ideal friend. He was 
a man who knew how to love his friends and how to fight 
his enemies, and he was one who dared to maintain the right 
and to condemn the wrong. 

Educated in the best schools of this country and of Europe, 
his intellectual culture was broad and deep. He was a ripe 
scholar and a profound thinker. His heart was as great as 
his mind, and he lived in sympathetic touch with the whole 
range of American thought and feeling. His mental char- 
acteristics were in some respects Napoleonic. He was a 
born leader and organizer of men, an advanced thinker, and 
a wise legislator. He was a conservative in council and a 
radical in action. His plan of action once determined, he 
showed the opposition no quarter. As a journalist he was 
brilliant and successful. As a historian he was painstaking, 
accurate, and just, giving to every theme he touched the 



Life and Character of James Phclan. 47 

coloring- of liis own genius. His history of Tennessee is a 
monument to his literary taste and to his ability as a writer. 
It enrolled his name among the immortal great of Tennessee. 

He entered upon his duties here with his literary work in 
an incomplete state, encumbered too with the general direc- 
tion of a great newspaper, and with a feeble constitution 
already impaired by excessive mental labor. He set about 
his work with the eager and intense energy of one who runs 
a race with death. His indomitable will carried him for- 
ward Jieedless of the protests of his overtaxed physical 2)ow- 
ers. Handicap23ed as he was in his work here he socjn im- 
pressed himself on the House and the country, and he was 
readily conceded a place among the strongest and brightest 
of the new members in the Fiftieth Congress, Short as was 
his active service in the House he gave the world earnest of 
a statesman. His superior mental powers impressed all who 
met him in social life, in the committee room, or on the floor 
of the House. His views of public questions were broad, 
liberal, and enlightened. He was a tireless worker, ^^osi- 
tive in his convictions, and he had a sovereign contempt 
for the time-serving politician. 

Dignified in bearing, gentle in his manners, and courte- 
ous to all, he invited the confidence and friendship of his 
colleagues. He was candid and bold in his oj)inions, and 
he lived above the trickster and the demagogue. He was 
well fitted both by education and by training for the exer- 
cise of high and imjDortant trusts, and it was his laudable am- 
bition to write his name among the noblest and the best of 
American statesmen. Had he lived in the enjoyment of 
health we can not doubt that he would have made for him- 
self a place in history commensurate with his highest ambi- 
tion, but his political career was practically over when' the 
Fifty-first Congress met. Though reelected by a proud and 



48 Address of Mr. Ettloe^ of Tennessee^ on the 

confiding constituency he was physically unable to take his 
place here with us. 

Young, brilliant, full of hope, and inspired by a praise- 
worthy ambition to serve his fellow-men, he started with us 
up the rugged steps of political fame, but he was touched 
by an unseen hand and he rested on the sunny side. He 
tasted only the sweets of ambition, and was spared the 
chance of the bitter cup of disappointment which so many 
who went before him have lived to drain to the dregs. He 
had his faults, no doubt, as other men, but his virtues so 
far outshone them that even -his faults seemed only lesser 
virtues. His career was splendid, full of promise, incom- 
plete—but God knows best. 

When all is said of him which his friends and colleagues 
may say as a tribute to his memory, his own life work will 
be his most eloquent eulogy. 

He made an heroic struggle against disease, but death 
came to him peacefully in the distant southern island where 
he made his last effort to live for love and for his country. 

The public knew him and admired him as journalist, 
historian, and statesman, but it was in the private walks of 
life that he was most loved and admired. I knew him as 
one whose private life was above reproach and whose home 
life was beautiful. We share the sorrow of his loved ones. 
Words of praise for him and expressions of sympathy 
for them seem like empty sounds, which fall at our feet 
and die with their utterance. 

In this hour of grief and sorrow I would point those who 
knew and loved him best to that polar star of human hope, 
the hope of a blessed immortality. I feel that dur friend 
has only preceded us to a ncrt distant but a better land. 
His life was measured "in deeds, not years; in thoughts, 
not breaths ; in feelings, not in figures on a dial." The love 



Life and Character of James Phclan. 40 

of such a friend was an honor. The loss of such a friend 
can not be repaired. 

Peace to his ashes ! Honor to his memory ! 



ADDRESS OF Mr. McMILLIN, OF TENNESSEE, 

Mr. Speaker : This Congress has an unprecedented death 
roll. Not only have a number of the oldest and most expe- 
rienced been taken, but we are now called upon to oifer in 
sadness our tribute to the memory of one of the youngest. 

James Phelan was born in Aberdeen, Mississippi, De- 
cember 7, 1856. He was an illustrious son of an illustrious 
sire. His father was a Confederate senator from a State re- 
nowned for the strength of those it trusted with high ofiice. 
He moved from Mississippi with his father, when but 
eleven years old, to Memphis— the scene of his early strug- 
gles and ultimate triumphs. 

Young Phelan received a private school education, and 
in 1871 entered the Kentucky Military Institute, near Frank- 
fort. He spoke often and ever enthusiastically of the days 
spent there. The boldness, candor, and hospitality of the 
Kentuckian were traits that met ready and kindred response 
in his own nature. 

After leaving this Kentucky college he went to Leipsic, 
Saxony, and entered the university there. He took the 
degree of doctor of philosophy in February, 1878 ; returned 
to Memphis, studied law, and began the practice in 1881. 
He married Miss Mary Early, of Virginia. He had an 
intense thirst for knowledge, and acquired it with great 
rapidity. He spoke other languages than his own witli 
fluency. He was not only a great reader, but a systematic 
student. He read rapidly, digested thoroughly, and re- 
H. Mis. 135 4 



50 Address of Mi\ McMillin^ of Tetinessce^ on the 

tained accurately. Botli in his private correspondence and 
in preparing manuscrij)t for his paper or his books he wrote 
with a rapidity almost incredible. 

He drove forward as one might be expected to who had 
premonition that he was soon to die and had determined to 
crowd the work of a whole life into half a life. A Scotch- 
Irishman by descent, he had all the i)ertinacity of the Scot 
united with all the enthusiasm of the Irish. At his fireside 
with his family, among his friends, he was all kindness and 
gentleness ; yet a bolder or more courageous man did not 
live. He was too proud to give an insult intentionally, too 
spirited to take one tamely. 

His was a remarkable career. He succeeded everywhere. 
Few men have the versatility of talent he exhibited. 
Though untrained in that work, by ai:)prenticeship or other- 
wise, he ventured into the great field of journalism, and 
succeeded from the beginning. He bought and operated 
successfully one of the greatest papers of his State. 

Notwithstanding his other engagements, he found time to 
write a history of his people and his State, which is a mon- 
ument to his industry, his research, and his ability as a 
writer. 

In the midst of these pursuits, sufiicient by their impor- 
tance and the drafts they made on his time to engross or 
overwhelm an ordinary mind, he resolved to blaze out anew 
path of glory. 

He was not content with ancestralfame, or to be known because his 
fathers were. 

He determined to seek a seat in this Hall — to become a 
Representative of the greatest of all the governments. Few 
thought he could succeed. Fewer still would have dared 
try the experiment under the disadvantages surrounding 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 51 

him. But he dared, and he won— won when opposed by 
some of the strongest and best men of his State. 

He came here modest, unassuming, l)ut with the same 
determination to succeed here which had marked him else- 
where. He talked to me often of his plans ; and, had he 
lived and kept his strength, I have not the least doubt he 
would have made this the greatest success of all. 

What a record ! At twenty-nine years, unaided, he had 
gone through the colleges of two countries, had taken a law 
course, was known to and recognized by men of letters as an 
author; of ability, was running a great daily paper, and 
representing 150,000 people in Congress. 

Col. H. M. Doak, formerly associated with Mr. Phelan 
in journalism, correctly epitomized his character in these 

words : 

Gifted with lofty powers of imagination, he had not yet reached a 
knowledge of or the full unfolding of his own powers. His genial hu- 
mor; pleasant, agreeable wit, and kindly sympathetic nature, and his 
large knowledge and cultivation, easily attuned him to companionship 
with men of all kinds and conditions. He was equally fitted, by his keen 
knowledge of men and his responsive sympathies, for association with 
statesmen, savants, and with artisans, or to shine in the social circle. His 
was a rare nature, gentle but strong, impulsive but calm, sympathetic 
but not to be misled by sympathy, gifted to please but unobstrusive, 
brave but never vaunting its courage, simple as a child's but strong as a 
true man's, proud with a manly pride but not puffed up, strong in indi- 
viduality but never vain, quietly responsive to any mood in others but 
not swayed thereby, and always calm and affable. He was a man a 
child could approach with perfect trust; a man the strongest, the rudest, 
never thought of approaching rudely. Something in his gentle, calm, but 
firm dignity forbade that. 

He had succeeded, but he had exhausted himself to do it. 
His health gave way about the time of his coming to Con- 
gress. He was reelected by his people, but in the second 
term was seldom able to enter the Hall. 



52 Address of Mr. McMillin., of Tennessee^ etc. 

He sought health in southern Texas and in the highlands 
farther west, but without avail. Thence he went a few 
weeks before his death to Nassau. But it was too late. He 
died far from his own land, surrounded by liis wife and 
three children, left to mourn him. 

Oil, what a noble heart was here undone, 

When Science self -destroyed her favorite son. 

Yes, she too much indulged thy fond pursuit; 

She sowed the seeds, but death has reaped the fruit. 

'Twas thine own genius gave the final blow, 

And helped to plant the wound that laid thee low. 

Mr. Speaker, whilst it is sad to contemplate the death of 
such a man, it is a blessing for such to have lived. Is this 
the end of such nobility of soul ? Can such be merely 
mortal ? It can not be ! A consolation like that so beauti- 
fully expressed by Ion will come to those who had seen him 
and known him. Ion was asked by Clemantha : 
And shall we never see each other again ? 

He answered : 

Yes! 
I have asked that wonderful question of the hills 
That look eternal ; of the flowing streams 
That lucid flow forever ; of the stars, 
Amid whose fields of azure my raised spirit 
Hath trod in glory. All were dumb ; but now, 
While I thus gaze upon thy loving face, 
I feel the love that kindles through its beauty 
Can never wholly perish. We shall meet 
Again, Clemantha. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The question is on the 
adoption of the resolutions. 

The resolutions were agreed to ; and accordingly (at 5 
o'clock and 53 minutes p. m.) the House adjourned until 8 
o'clock p. m, 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 



ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH, 



February 7, 1891. 

Mr. Harris, I ask that the message from the House of 
Representatives be laid before the Senate. 

The Presiding Officer. The Chair lays before the Sen- 
ate a message from the House of Representatives, which will 
be read. 

The Secretary read as follows : 

In the House of Representatives, Febntary 7, 1891. 

Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow and deep 
regret of the death of Hon. James Phelan, late a Representative from 
the State of Tennessee. 

Resolved, That a committee of seven n:iembers of the House, with such 
members of the Senate as may be joined, be appointed to attend tlie 
funeral. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate, 
and transmit a copy to the family of the deceased. 

In accordance with the foregoing resf)lution the Speaker appointed the 
following committee : Mr. Washington, of Tennessee ; Mr. McRae, of Ar- 
kansas ; Mr. Wickham, of Oliio ; Mr. Enloe, of Tennessee ; Mr. Stock- 
bridge, of Maryland ; Mr. Montgomery, of Kentucky; and Mr. Coleman, 

of Louisiana. 

r.3 



54 Proceedings in the Senate. 

Mr. Harris. I offer the resolutions wliicli I send to the 
desk. 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. Phitt in the chair). The 
resolutions will be read. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows: 

Reaolved, That the Senate has heard with profound soitow the an- 
nouncement of the death of James Phelan, late a Representative from 
the State of Tennessee. 

Revived, That a committee of five Senators be appomted by the Presid- 
ing Officer to join the committee appointed on the part of the House of 
Representatives to attend the funeral of the deceased. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the 
House of Representatives. 

The Presiding Officer. The question is on agreeing to 
the resolutions which have just been read by the Secretary. 

The resolutions were agreed to. 

The Presiding Officer appointed Mr. Harris, Mr. Jones 
of Arkansas, Mr. Faulkner, Mr. Stockbridge, and Mr. Pierce 
as the committee on the part of the Senate under the second 
resolution. 

Mr. Harris. As a further mark of respect to the memory 
of the deceased, I move that the Senate do now adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to; and the Senate adjourned 
until Monday, February 9, 1891, at 11 o'clock a. m. 



EULOGIES. 

March 2, 1891. 

Mr. Harris. I ask tlie Chair to lay before the Senate the 
message of the House of Representf^tives in respect to the 
death of Hon. James Phelan, late a Representative from 
the State of Tennessee. 

The Presiding Officer. The Chair lays before the Sen- 
ate the resolutions of the House of Representatives, which 
will be read. 

The Chief Clerk read as follows : 

In the House, February 28, 1891. 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended that oppor- 
tunity may be given for tributes to the memory of Hon. James Phelan, 
late a Representative from the State of Tennessee. 

Resolved, Tliat as a particular mark of respect to the memory of the 
deceased, and in recognition of his eminent abilities as a faithful public 
servant, the House, at the conclusion of these memorial proceedings, 
shall stand adjourned 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk also transmit to the family of the deceased a 
copy of these resolutions. 

Mr. Harris. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions, which 
I send to the desk. 

The President pro tempore. The resolutions offered by 
the Senator from Tennessee will be read. 



56 Address of Mr. Harris^ of Tennessee^ o7i the 

The Chief Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, That the Senate has received with profound sorro vv the an- 
nouncement of the death of Hon. James Phelan, late a member of the 
House of Representatives from the State of Tennessee, and tenders to the 
family of the deceased the assurance of sympathy in their sad bereave- 
ment. 

Resolved, That the business of the Senate be now suspended, that op- 
portunity may be given for fitting tributes to the memory of the deceased, 
and to liis eminent public and private virtues ; and that as a further mark 
of respect the Senate, at the conclusion of such remarks, shall adjourn. 

Resolved, That the Secretary be directed to transmit to the family of 
the deceased a copy of these resolutions. 



Address of Mr, Harris, of Tennessee. 

Mr. President : We turn from the important and pres- 
sing duties of the expiring hours of the Fifty-first Congress to 
pay the last tribute of respect to the memory of our deceased 
associate. 

On the 30th day of January last, James Phelan, the Rep- 
resentative of the Tenth Tennessee Congressional district, 
died at Nassau. 

He was born at Aberdeen, Mississippi, December 7, 1S5G. 
His father, an ex-Confederate senator from Mississippi, an 
able and distinguished lawyer, removed to Memphis in 1867, 
and from that time until his death Memphis was the home of 
the late Representative. 

Having the advantages that the best private schools could 
give in his youth, prompted by a laudable and indomitable 
ambition for the acquisition of knowledge, he made the 
most of his opportunities and advanced rapidly in all of his 
studies. 

In 1871, wlien fifteen yc^ars of age, he entered the Ken- 



Life and Cliaractci'- of James Phelan. 57 

tucky Military Institute. In 1874 he entered the university 
at Leipsic, Saxony, where he comj)leted his education. 

Returning to his home in Memphis in 1878, he studied law 
and was admitted to the bar and commenced ■flie practice 
in 1881. But soon thereafter he became the proprietor of 
the Memphis Avalanche, one of the leading political jour- 
nals of the South, and his professional ambition was sub- 
ordinated to his business interests and his political aspira- 
tions. 

As the owner of a great newspaper he showed the tact 
and enterprise of a thorough business man, and as the one 
who inspired its utterances he gave abundant evidence of 
his ability to defend and maintain the principles of the party 
to which he belonged. 

In 1886 he was unanimously nominated by the Democrats 
of the Tenth Congressional district of Tennessee, and elected 
to represent that district in the Fiftieth Congress. 

New member as he was, and one of the youngest in the 
House, the body to which he belonged very soon recognized 
the fact that he was talented, learned, honest, and patriotic, 
and awarded to him the influence due to these high quali- 
ties. His district was ably and well represented. 

He was renominated and elected as a Representative to 
the Fifty-first Congress, but the fatal malady that he in- 
herited so effectually undermined his physical energies as 
to forbid his attendance upon the sessions of the House or 
his participation in its proceedings. 

In the vain hope of finding a climate and an atmosphere 
that might arrest the fatal malady, for the last two years 
he wandered from place to place, from latitude to latitude, 
but unfortunately for him, his family, and the country, no 
relief was found, and at Nassau, on the 30th day of Janu- 
ary, he died. 



5S Address of Mr. Jones^ of Arkansas^ on tJic 

In liis death the Tenth Congressional district has lost an 
able, earnest, and faithful Representative; Tennessee has 
lost one of her most promising adopted sons, and the coun- 
try has lost a scholar, a statesman, and a patriot. 



Address of Mr. Jones, of Arkansas. 

Mr. President : The mortality in the Fifty-first Congress 
has been appalling. Months ago it was astonishing, but the 
greatest ravages of the relentless destroyer seem to have 
been reserved for the latter part of this session. 

Death after death in our midst has occurred in such rapid 
succession that a gloom is cast over us which even the ab- 
sorbing demands of business can not dispel. Those who 
have been our constant associates and sitting by our side 
day by day have one by one been so suddenly called away 
that it has seemed as if the grim monster was actually pres- 
ent sitting in our midst every moment, mocking our hopes 
and ready to snatch away another. 

The mortality in our own branch of Congress has, in pro- 
portion to numbers, kept pace with that in the other. First 
the great Kentuckian went. Then that able lawyer, pure 
gentleman, and earnest Christian, the Senator from Mary- 
land; and scarcely had we laid him to rest when the Senator 
from California was summoned by the Master; and now, 
while we are preparing to bear him with loving hands and 
sad hearts to his home in the great West, which he loved so 
well and served so faithfully, we pause in the rush and 
hurry of the business of the nation to testify, though in a 



Life and Character of James Phclan. 59 

feeble way, our respect for the memory of another member 
of the House of Representatives, who was also loved and 
honored amongst us while living— James Phelan, of Ten- 
nessee, 

The State from which he came has sent along line of capa- 
ble and patriotic men to both Houses of the National Con- 
gress. The names of many of her members here will live 
as long as the memory of this nation shall survive, but 
where in all this line can you point to one who came under 
circumstances which .warranted higher expectations than 
were justified as to Mr. Phelan ? Young, ambitious, culti- 
vated, endowed with natural ability, and with the loftiest 
sense of personal integrity and uprightness, it certainly 
seemed that his friends and his State were justified in antici- 
pating an extraordinarily brilliant and successful career for 

him. 

It has been well said that '' all persons possessing any por- 
tion of power ought to be strongly and awfully impressed 
with an idea that they act in trust, and that they are to ac- 
count for their conduct in that trust to the one great Master, 
Author, and Founder of society." 

The story of Mr. Phelan's life seems an illustration of 
this idea. He labored incessantly, and while he had not 
reached his maturity, had in fact scarcely begun to learn 
his own powers, he had already accomplished more than 
falls to the lot of thousands who have reached the age of 
three score years and ten, and who have taken high rank 
among their fellow-men. He had achieved great success as 
a journalist, and stood sufficiently high in his profession to 
have satisfied the ambition of most men. 

He had won celebrity in literature, had stamped his im- 
press upon American letters, and won a position in this field 
which will live after we are gone ; but not satisfied with 



60 Address of Mi'. Jones^ of Arkaiisas^ on the 

success in these great fields, lie sought and won distinction 
in the domain of politics and statesmanship. If, indeed, 

We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial, 

then Mr. Phelan had already outlived most men when he 
went to "the lone couch of his everlavStiug sleep." 

Death is always terrible. We are never quite ready for the 
summons; but to him who has garnered such rich results, 
whether his years be few or many, Mr. President, it is cer- 
tainly not premature. 

One who labors so intensely earns rest ; and who can say 
that, even though it comes in the form of that 

Sinless, stirless rest. 
That change which never changes, 

it is a misfortune ? Death must come, and whether it be 
soon or late matters little. It is inevitable ; but it matters 
much whether it follows a well or ill spent life. Mr. 
Phelan's early death is well known to have resulted from 
his too earnest and constant labor. Whatsoever his hands 
found to do that he did with his might, and he wrought 
with marvelous success. He labored as one who knew his 
time was short and who intended to complete his allotted 
task in the brief space given him, and his complete success 
will remain a monument to him in the future. Genial, 
warm-hearted, manly, without reproach, 

After life's fitful fever be sleeps well, 



Life and Character of James Phclan. 61 



Address of Mr, Daniel, of Virginia. 

Mr. President: "Oh, that I had time to weep!" This 
was the exclamation of Napoleon, when on one of his bloody- 
battle-fields he beheld the ghastly corpse of a brave young 
soldier who had fallen in the fight. How often, Mr. 
President, has that emotion welled up in our hearts during 
the busy hours of this exciting session of Congress, as one 
by one we have seen our colleagues removed from their 
places of public usefulness ; as one and then antther of our 
associates have disappeared from our side. And yet per- 
haps it is well, Mr. President, that we do not have time to 
weep; well that the overruling demands of love for the liv- 
ing and of duty to the obligations which Providence has 
placed upon us, should constrain us from the mournful 
thoughts and heartrending scenes that attend the place of 
death. And after all, we can do nothing for the dead but 
lay them down at the foot of the cross, and utter the cry of 
mortal submission to divine decree, "Thy will be done." 
It is for ourselves, for these around us, for those that come 
hereafter, that we proclaim the virtues of the dead, that we 
uplift their good examples, and that we contemplate their 
end as the inevitable lot. 

If some would escape death, and if only some were doomed 
to die, life would be vexed with new harassments and in- 
felicities. In the impartiality of death there is taught the 
lesson of human brotherhood. With Death equality is 
equity. A just creditor, Death exacts from each and all an 
equal due. If there be gloom in this reflection there is also 
some consolation. Death can not be wholly evil and wholly 
sorrowful, seeing that it is universal, that it is the fixed, 



(j2 Address of Mr. DaiiicI, of Virginia, on the 

inevitable, invariable, unappealable law of Him who rul'js 
forever. 

Mr. President, such thoughts as these have come upon us 
as we have seen the old, the middle aged, and the youthful 
vanish from our midst. He whom we now mourn to-night 
and to whom we pay the last salutation of earthly respect 
was a marked man. If I were to seek to characterize his 
life with a few words, I should say that he wus marked by 
that which is the invariable mark of every man who 
achieves and leaves something to be remembered; that is, 
by a serious, earnest, and steadfast purpose. He was born 
to affluence. It is a mistake to suppose that poverty is a 
disadvantage to the youth of genius and aspiration. It is 
oftener the spur of action and endeavor, and these must 
precede accomplishment. 

Wealth is often an incumbrance— a tempter, a deceiver 
to the young. But James Phelan, of Tennessee, looked 
upon wealth as only an opportunity for usefulness. He ap- 
plied it to purposes of self-education, to the liberalizing of 
his mind, and to enterprises of utility. He had within him 
the restless, compelling thoughts of high endeavor. There 
burned in his breast — 

A spark of that immortal fire 
With angels shared, by Allah given, 

To lift from earth our low desire. 

He had the will and the purpose and the intent to do 
something that men might know him and recognize him by 
his good works. " I speak to you who will live a million 
years hence," are words deciphered in the hieroglyphics of 
ancient Egypt, and such thoughts still warm human bosoms. 
James Phelan was brave; he was high-spirited, and he 
scorned delights, and lived laborious days ; ho sought to 
leave a name. An editor, in the domain of journalism he 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 63 

accomplished the building up of a newspaper which was a 
luminary in his section of the country, and he wielded an 
able pen. A lawyer, he studied his profession and became 
learned in the law. A man of letters, he wrote a history 
of his State which competent critics have pronounced ad- 
mirable. 

Beyond this, he w^as a young American of character and 
force for good, an honor to his State and to his country, 
dedicating those hours which to many would be hours of 
leisure in illustrating worthy deeds and in writing of them 
in an impartial and honest and earnest spirit. He held up 
the high ideals to the yoiTng men of this nation. 

There was no bitterness nor narrowness in his character. 
He was a patriot ; he loved his country ; he loved his State ; 
he loved his kind. 

I had the honor of a personal acquaintance with Mr. 
Phelan, and perhaps became better acquainted with him 
than opportunity would have otherwise permitted from the 
fact that he married a lady of my own town. Their union 
was blessed with children. He had around him all that men 
seek to make life happy, "home, children, and friends." 
In the midst of his days, in the prime of his life, in the 
flower of his career, he saw death advancing upon him, but 
he did not blanch before it. He kept on with his labors. 
He applied himself to the purposes which he had set in view 
with a firmness that never relaxed until fate itself relaxed it. 

Twice elected a member of the House of Representa- 
tives, with the perspective of the future broadening and 
widening before him, and no doubt filled with as many 
dreams of happiness and usefulness as those that might 
ever fill the visions of the buoyant and the brave, he 
found that the seeds of disease were implanted in his 
bosom. He sought relief in southern climes, but found it 



64 Address of Mr. Bate, of Tennessee, on the 

not. He was doomed to die, and under the effulgence of 
sunlit skies, in a land of flowers, in the balmy air of the 
Bahamas, he has sunk to rest, with trust in God and in hope 
of heaven. 

Mr. President, there is something admirable in that cere- 
mony of the soldier in which he accompanies his comrade 
to his last resting place with the Dead March, fires over 
liis grave, and then returns with flying flag and with re- 
joicing music to the accustomed rounds of duty. So seem 
we to pause here amidst these busy hours to bow our heads 
at this new-made tomb. I tender with you my respectful 
sympathies to those who I know are bereaved beyond the 
power of man to admijiister consolation. I give with you 
my last salute to the memory of this brave and true young 
American, who was worthy of his State and*country, and 
whose example should stimulate us in our appointed tasks. 



ADDRESS OF Mr. Bate, of Tennessee. 

Mr. President : When we contemplate the fact that 
eleven Representatives and three Senators have been called 
from this one Congress to appear before the Tribunal in the 
great "Beyond," we realize the truth that "Thy scythe 
and glass, O Time, are not the emblems of thy gentler 
power!" 

When we see death's Jiigh revelry in the Fifty-first Con- 
gress it becomes apparent that there is truth in the remark 
that "Death loves a shining mark." Townshend, Burnes, 
Gay, Kelloy, Randall, Watson, Cox, Wilber, Nutting, 



Life and Character of James Phelan. ' 65 

Walker, and Phelaii, in tlie House; Beck, Wilson, and 
Hearst in the Senate. Tlie list is an appalling one, but it is 
also a galaxy of men who have — 

Deposited upon the silent sliore 

Of memory, images, and precious thoughts 
That shall not die, and can not be destroyed. 

There is no Death! What seems so is transition ; 

This life of mortal breath 
Is but a suburb of the life elysian, 

Whose portal we call Death. 

The bowstring, drawn tightly back by the finger of fate 
and let fly quickly, sends the death arrow to a shining 
mark, and in this instance truly a shining young life is the 
victim. 

Why and by what philosoj)liy it is that one so young, so 
well equipped for the activities and usefulness of life, is 
taken we know not, but submit confidingly under the be- 
lief that " behind a frowning providence He hides a shining 
face." 

In the death of her late Representative, James Phelan, 
the State which I in part have the honor to represent in 
this Chamber lost one of her most valued sons and able and 
faithful Representatives. 

When less than 30 years of age he had not only 
won for himself a high reputation as journalist and his- 
torian, but had also won and held an honored seat in the 
Fiftieth Congress, of which he was the youngest member; 
and rare indeed has it been for one so young to gain a seat 
in that honored body, although it is more than a century 
old. 

In being liberally educated in our best home institutions, 
James Phelan laid the foundation for that rare educational 
H. Mis. 135 5 



66 Address of Mr. Batc^ of Tennessee^ on the 

finish to which he afterwards attained in a European uni- 
versity at Leipsic. 

Having been educated for the law he commenced its prac- 
tice at his home in Memphis, but soon turned his attention 
to journalism and became identified with the Memphis 
Avalanche, one of the leading and most influential daily 
papers in the South. 

At this early age James Phelan had premonitions of 
consumption. He knew the probability of his having in- 
herited that malady which could not be stayed in its gradual 
consuming. He had seen an only brother wither under its 
baleful influence at an early age, even imtil death had 
given its sting and the grave had won its victory. Instead 
of yielding to what he and his friends believed to be the in- 
evitable — as is usual witli less nervy men — and temporizing 
under melancholy forebodings, he battled against the enemy 
as a ''strong swimmer in his agony." With undaunted 
courage he resolved, however short his span of life, to win 
honors in the race. The time was short, the track rugged, 
but he entered the list to win. As the result shows, he was 
a swift courser and attained the goal of high noon while 
yet the liquid dew glistened in the morning sunlight, leav- 
ing his ambitious associates in the distance. 

Preceding his election to Congress and during his jour- 
nalistic career he had gathered together the facts and inci- 
dents, the philosophy and politics of Tennessee, and em- 
bodied them in history ; and he had condensed and simplified 
that history for the use of the schools of the State, and 
brought within the grasp of the young, as he scattered the 
gold dust of knowledge over their budding intellects, the 
reasons and facts which give value to the past and promise 
to the future of that great Commonwealth. In this valuable 
contribution to history, presented in plain, clear, simple, and 



Life and Character of James Phelan. «7 

coo-ent style, he 1ms woven most interestingly lier leading 
historic events with the individuality of her heroes who, 
during their pioneer life, wrought the framework ot her 
organism, along with those who, in later times, have given 
strength, beauty, and symmetry to her new growth 

Eecoo-nizing that all things are possible to well directed 
labor and that nothing is to be attained without it, that ex- 
cellence in any department of usefulness can be gained only 
by the labor of a lifetime, Mr. Phelan bent every energy 
of mind and body to the accomplishment of his hfe s work. 
With him neither personal comfort nor high station were 
the chief ends of life, nor was wealth the main object of his 

'"HreTrly youth having been assiduously devoted to study 
and the attainment ot knowledge, and having in the best o 
European schools not only diversified, strengthened, and 
polished that education without losing the American fea- 
ture ot practical usefulness, acquired a ripe knowledge o 
modern thought, not alone in the ordinary curriculum ot 
an educational course, but by practical everyday observa- 
tion which comes of strong natural capacity good taste, and 

'''The pitriot sentiment of his character was strengthened 
and intensified by the contrasts between his knowledge of 
the institutions of his country and his observations ot those 
of foreign lands ; between the privileged few of European 
and the broad equality of American society; between the 
impoverished many of other countries and the happy md- 
lions at home. His education in Europe enlarged and ele- 
vated his pride and affection for America. 

Thus equipped, and standing on the threshold of man- 
hood, he entered the arena of active life at his home in the 
city of Memphis, where ability and competition w.as so 



68 Address of Mr. Bate^ of Tennessee., on rhe 

marked as to be proverbial. From that moment, notwith- 
standing the shadow of an early fate overhnng him, he bent 
the energies of his proud spirit for his few remaining years 
to -usefulness and to fame. 

Guided by practical philosophy in his high purpose ; with 
manners natural and simple ; plain in dress ; social but tem- 
perate, if not severe, in habits ; of direct methods and jjos- 
itive in speech, he deceived no one, and gained ready access 
to all classes, and the people quickly learned to love him. 
He tied friends to him as if by a charm. He overrode oppo- 
sition and soon came to be counted in the front rank, where 
strong men battled for place. He worshiped at the shrine 
of friendship with a faith that knew "no variableness nor 
shadow of turning." Indeed, with him bad faith to friend 
was an unforgiven crime. 

Intrepid self-reliance, unwearied activity, far-reaching sa- 
gacity, clearness, and fullness were the prominent mental 
characteristics which made him the able editor, the accom- 
plished historian, and useful legislator. Tennessee recog- 
nized his worth and wealth of character and the fullness of 
his mental capacity, and conferred upon him high honors. 
Her generous confidence he requited with a deep and fervent 
devotion, laying upon her altar the offering.s of his youthful 
but matured years, upholding, upon all occasions, with a 
lofty patriotism and with all the energies of a scholarly 
intellect, her rights, her honor, and her prosperity. 

Of hopeful temperament, and without ostentation or 
jjarade, his spirit was finely touched with the gentler vir- 
tues, and those who enjoyed the privilege of social intimacy 
will remember with delight the unaffected frankness nml 
simplicity of his manners, the varied range and vivacity of 
his conversation ; and they will most deeply deplore the 
loss of one as remarkable for mildness and the kindliest 



Life and Character of James Phelan. 69 

affections in his domestic relations and all tlie intercourse 
of private life as lie was for profound thoughts and rare 
attainments. It may he truly said of James Phelan that 
he not only possessed marked abilities and fine accomplish- 
ments, but also a heroic spirit which devoted itself by stren- 
uous efforts, at the cost of life itself, to the accomplishment 
of great and important ends. 

Ability and energy are not always sufficient, for courage 
and disinterestedness are also needed. These he possessed to 
an eminent degree. The painful encroachments of wasting 
disease could not abate the one nor swerve the other. With 
lofty, definite, and fixed purposes, he bravely pursued his 
course despite the weakness of body or the terrors of death. 

Mr. President, it is not that other men could not or may 
not have accomplished what James Phelan did, and more 
but who has done it at so young an age ? Ay, more ; who 
else has done it or would do it at his age, or any age, know- 
ing a fatal disease was preying upon his vitals, with the 
shadow of death coming nearer and nearer as it flitted before 
him ? This is heroism. 

This young and gifted workman of Tennessee now rests 
from his life's labors, l)ut tlie fruit of these he left growing 
and to grow ; his early years have been numbered and are 
ended, but of the activity of his life's labor there is no end. 
He was the embodiment of courage, will power, and energy; 
of the thoughtfulness, the glow, and throbbing pulsation 
of earnest life. He was my friend, and I love to speak of 
him. 

Whether striving for a scholarly prize at academy or 
university, wielding a journalistic pen, writing the history 
of his State, appearing before hustings, or holding a seat 
in Congress, from which he was taken too soon, James 
Phelan was always equal to the task. He knew no middle 



70 Address of Mr. Bate, of Ten?iessee. 

ground and only ceased effort when lie became master of the 

situation. His sunset was premature, but it was golden. 

His life was — 

Like the summer rose, 

That opens to the morning sky. 

But ere the shades of evening close 

Is scattered on tlie ground— to die. 

He will sleep in the environs of Elmwood. on the banks 
of the mightiest of rivers, within the limits of the beauti- 
f ul and growing city of Memphis, with which he was identi- 
fied in boyhood and manhood. 

He left a noble, accomplished wife, and three little cliil- 
dren. His domestic life was of the happiest. Warm tints 
of. delicate coloring blended in his nature and made him 
soft and tender in his home circle. He sought the salt air 
of Nassau as a restorative in vain, and was there wooed by 
the roar of the surf to his last sleep. His family were with 
him, and to them go out the warm sympathy of our Ten- 
nessee people. 

'Tis hard to part when friends are dear ; 
Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear. 
Then steal away, give little warning, 

Choose thine own time ; 
Say not " Good night," but in some brighter clime 

Bid me •' Good morning." 

I now ask for the adoj)tion of the resolutions submitted 
by my colleague. 

The President pro tempore. The question is on the 
adoption of the resolutions. 

The resolutions were agreed to unanimously ; and the 
Senate accordingly adjourned until Tuesday, March 3, 1891, 
at 9.30 o'clock a. m. 



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